


The Takeover

by Civilliany



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 08:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1157458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Civilliany/pseuds/Civilliany
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Queen Consolidated is taken over by a hostile group of environmental terrorists, bent on holding QC employees’ hostage until Oliver Queen pays a considerable ransom. To make the situation even more risky is that three of hostages being held are key members of QC: Felicity Smoak, Moira Queen, and Isabel Rochev. Oliver is forced to straddle being QC CEO and the Arrow in this situation when two of the most important women in his life are being held by a group of unwilling negotiators. Does he put on he put on his CEO mask or his Arrow mask to save two of the most important women in his life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray into the Olicity fanfiction. I absolutely love the show Arrow. And I love the pairing of Olicity even more! If Olicity is not endgame I'm going to be very disappointed. This idea popped into my head and I just had to write it down. Hope you guys enjoy it. Kudos and reviews are gladly welcomed.

The broadcast of the hostages being held was running on a 24 hour feed for the whole of Starling City to see, broadcasted on its own unique channel and across every open screen across Starling. It was almost 23 hours ago when Queen Consolidated was stormed by a group calling themselves the Green Brigade – whom killed a number of guards, locked down the entire QC building and took every QC employee hostage. It was 23 hours ago when Oliver Queen’s life became even crazier than he could have ever imagined. It was 23 hours ago when he watched as two of the most important women in his life were shown tied up with guns pointed at their heads with the warning that if he did not pay up he would watch his mother and assistant be executed live on a live feed. He watched as Felicity Smoak, his girl Wednesday, tried to comfort his mother. Even while tied up and being held hostage, Felicity always put others in front of herself. It was 23 hours ago when Oliver Queen lost control over everything that mattered in his life. Oliver Queen had 1 hour to save not only his family’s company, all the hostages, and his mother. He had only 1 hour to save the love of his life. 

\- 23 Hours Previously - 

Oliver has spent nearly an hour at lunch with his sister as she badgered him about finally asking Felicity out for a date. Oliver never thought that his sister would ever pick up on his feelings towards Felicity, but one too many times Thea had witnessed the interaction and connection between QC CEO and his executive assistant. 

“Come on, Oliver! Just ask Felicity out on a date! You know you want to,” said Thea forcefully. 

“Like I’ve said before, Speedy, there is nothing between Felicity and I. Nothing,” answered Oliver as he speared his salad a little too forcefully. 

Oliver had become more and more annoyed by his younger sister’s antics in trying to push him towards Felicity. Yes, he knew he had feelings for Felicity. Hell, he was able to admit to himself that those feelings were a lot deeper than he was even able to admit to himself. In the span of a year, Oliver realized more and more how much Felicity mattered to him. Not just as his assistant or Team Arrows IT extraordinaire, or a partner, but as a true friend. Felicity had been able to make him smile when no one else could since his return to Starling. She was this shining bright light in his very dark world, a light too bright that he never wished to diminish. She was his calm in the storm. She was his anchor in his crazy life. And he wasn’t willing to risk any of that, even though his inner battle of denying his true feelings was beginning to put a strain on him. 

He watched as Felicity began a relationship with Barry Allen, but thankfully fizzled out before he had to make the kid disappear, permanently. In the beginning he couldn’t figure why it irked him when Felicity and Barry began to spend time together. But slowly, and with a little help from Diggle, he realized he was jealous. He was jealous of Barry. He was jealous of this kid who got to go out with the woman that made his darkness dissipate. Oliver was just plain jealous of Barry, and took every fibre of his being from breaking the two up. 

He was also unable to dismiss all the times that Thea had tried, and failed, to get him to ask Felicity out. Thea had tried near everything to force him into asking Felicity out. Even to the point of blackmailing him with some very embarrassing videos from his childhood when he and Tommy had tried to start a boy band together. Unfortunately for Thea, it took a lot more than an embarrassing video to break him. 

“Earth to Ollie? You’re thinking about Felicity aren’t you? I knew it? I mean come on, Ollie. Why can’t you just admit that you like Felicity and ask her out on a date? You know you like her! I can see it every time you look at her,” inquired Thea less forcefully than before. 

“Thea just stop, okay. I know you think that there is something between Felicity and I, but I can assure you there is nothing there. She’s just my friend alright?” 

“One day you’re going to regret saying that, Ollie.” 

… 

Oliver’s phone went off in the middle of the conversation between Dig and himself on the way back from lunch with Thea. Oliver knew he was late for a meeting with a bunch of accounting executives and answered the phone believing it was Felicity on the other end. 

“Look I know I’m late, Felicity. Just fend them off with your charm until I get there. Dig and I are headed back to QC right now. ETA 10 minutes max.” 

“It’s not Felicity, Oliver,” answered Detective Lance. 

“Detective, may I ask why you are calling me,” questioned a confused Oliver.

“There is a situation at QC HQ. We’ve blocked off the street. You won’t be able to get into a building. A group launched an incursion into QC about 20 minutes ago. And it looks like they’ve killed a number of guards and have barricaded themselves in the building. None of the employees in the building were able to escape. They’ve all been taken hostage.” 

Oliver head began to spin as he heard the words spill out of the detective’s mouth. How could QC be hit? Why would anyone hit QC? The HQ was just offices; most of their experimental and valuable products were located in numerous off sites around the world. There was nothing valuable that warranted an incursion like the one being described to him. 

“Oliver? The group in question is calling themselves the Green Brigade. They’ve cut off all communications into the building except one phone. It looks like corralled all the staff into the cafeteria. They’ve set up a live feed, Oliver. It’s broadcasting all over the city. You can see it on the screen outside the building. We don’t know how much manpower these guys have but it must be a large amount to takeover Queen Consolidated in the time they’ve had. These guys are damn efficient though.” 

“Ollie, what’s wrong,” asked Thea as she saw her brother’s demeanour change dramatically.

“Oliver, what’s wrong,” asked Dig as he had yet to answer Thea’s question and saw his face in the rear view mirror. 

“Oliver,” spoke Lance, “the hostages include your mother and Felicity.”


	2. The Takeover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for your support! I cannot believe it! Keep on commenting, I'd love to hear what you guys think. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

-23 Hours Previously - 

This was one of the times that Felicity hated being Oliver’s executive assistant more than life itself. She had dealt with the rumours circulating about her relationship with Oliver. She had even come to terms with being an executive assistant rather than working in IT, which she had spent 4 years in MIT working her ass off for. She understood that being Oliver’s EA was the best way to conduct both their jobs, but she still didn’t have to like it. And she definitely did not like the situation she was in now. She loathed having to deal with Isabel Rochev on the occasions she decided to grace QC HQ with her presence. To make matters even worse, Moira Queen decided to join them as she presented everything that had been planned for QC’s Annual Investor Summer Party. 

“The party planning and implementation is pretty much complete. We have the caterers booked, the wait staff has been hired, the venue has been chosen, and Ava has everything has everything under control. The guest list is coming along nicely as well. The people seem to have forgiven QC for being a part of the whole Undertaking and destroying the Glades thing,” burbled Felicity before realizing Moira was in the room. 

“I am so sorry, Mrs. Queen,” said Felicity trying to backtrack from what she said.

“It’s alright, Felicity, I’ve come to terms with my actions. You’ve done a good job in planning the annual party. I’m very pleased,” replied Moira smiling slightly. Moira had become more open towards Felicity and her babbling tendency. She found it quite endearing actually. 

“These costs are astronomical, Felicity. I thought we were still trying to pull QC out of the hole rather than digging deeper into it,” sniped Isabel icily as ever. 

“Well, Ms. Rochev, OQ has completed a near 180 turn since last year. Profits are up, investor confidence is high, and the roll out of the newest QC applied science product is slated for a month from now,” snipped Felicity. 

Before Isabel could reply alarms around the office began going off. Felicity rushed to her desk and saw the alert. Queen Consolidated was being attacked. From what she could see from the security cameras in the lobby they had already taken out most of the security guards. The front door wasn’t the only ingress location the masked group was coming in. Quickly flipping through QC’s entire security system she noted that they had already overtaken the parking complex, rounded up the QC staff on the first few floors, and had locked down all the elevator access. The group had locked down any means of escape from the building. They were being trapped within QC HQ for some unknown reason. Felicity tried to send a message to Oliver and Diggle alerting to what was happening and sending the intel to her computers at the Foundry. Unfortunately, the group seemed to have taken the entire QC communication network offline as well. Internet, phones, and cell service were all dead. There was no way to communicate with the outside world. No way to contact Oliver. 

“Felicity, what is going on,” asked an alarmed Moira. 

“We’re being invaded,” replied Felicity somewhat hysterically. She may have been on Team Arrow for more than 2 years but that never prepared her for what was happening now. 

“Please step away from the computer Miss. Smoak;” ordered a masked gun man, “I wouldn’t want to have to break those nice fingers you have.” 

The office was quickly engulfed in gunmen with large guns pointed at them. The next thing Felicity knew was their hands had been bound and they were being forced to walk down the stairs. Moira seemed to be the most resistant out of all three of them, bombarding their hostage takers with an onslaught of questions. The hostage takers paid no attention to Moira. They just kept pushing their guns into Moira, Isabel and herself forcing them down the stairs. 

They were lead into QC cafeteria, and the sight that they were met with astounding. It looked like almost every QC staff member had been rounded up into the cafeteria. Felicity counted over 20 masked gunmen in the space as well, all carrying large weapons that looked military grade. She wondered how many more men there were for them to have rounded up the 400+ staff in the building in the amount of time they had before her alarm went off. Instead of being lead towards where the majority of the staff was being held, the three of them were being lead to an area that looked like a small film studio. A sophisticated camera and computer system had been set up and was being controlled by another masked man, slightly smaller in build and stature than most of the masked gunmen. 

“Are we ready,” asked the gunman that had ordered Felicity to step away from her computer. 

“We’re ready. You can begin,” answered the masked computer tech. Felicity realized from the moment she heard the words spill out of the computer tech’s mouth that she had been right in her assessment of the tech. The computer tech was smaller than all the other gunmen. That was because she wasn’t a man, she was a woman! And a young one from the sound of her voice. 

The lead masked gunman stepped in behind Moira, pointing a gun at her head. Felicity quickly realized he was the guy in charge, earning him the nickname of Crazy Kidnapper Psychopath Number 1, CKP1 for short. 

“Good afternoon, good people of Starling City. As you can probably tell by now Queen Consolidated HQ has been through a takeover. As you can see from the images being shown we have taken every single member of QC staff hostage. If the police try to infiltrate this building we will kill every single member of this staff. All ingress and egress points into QC has been lined with C4, any attempts to raid the building will result in numerous casualties. You must be wondering who we are. We are the Green Brigade. We are the environment's freedom fighters. We are here for reparations from Queen Consolidated and Oliver Queen. And unless he cooperates were going to start killing every member of his staff,” spoke CKP1 as he moved his gun from Moira’s head to Isabel and finally landing on Felicity’s. 

… 

Oliver watched, frozen, as the gun landed on Felicity’s head. He was in front of the QC building which had barricades, police cars and numerous police and SWAT teams surrounding it. Detective Lance had allowed Diggle, Thea and himself to enter the barricaded area. Thea had texted Roy and he was already on his way towards QC. All three watched as the images on the large screen outside QC showed all the staff being held hostage by the Green Brigade. 

Oliver could feel his whole body begin to shake as his anger rose through his body. Who the hell were the Green Brigade and why the hell had they targeted QC? Why the hell did they have a gun pointed at Felicity Smoak? 

… 

-23 Hours Previously- 

Isabel listened as Felicity’s presented the details for QC’s Annual Investor Summer Party. She had tired of Felicity’s voice long ago and found it extremely annoying at this point. She had not expected Moira to show up to this little presentation, but it was a surprise she welcomed. While flipping through the report that Felicity had prepared her phone vibrated alerting her to a message. Scrolling across the screen was the message – ‘The Takeover Begins.’


	3. BOOM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for your support! You don't know how happy I am that you guys like the story! Thank you to all for those of you who have kudos and commented. They are greatly appreciated! This has so far been the longest chapter that I have written, as some of you have requested. Hope you enjoy it :)

-20 Hours Previously - 

Oliver didn’t think the day could’ve gotten any worse than it already had, but it seemed the Fates had something else in mind. Diggle had the foresight to get Roy to bring and set up their mobile station outside QC – loaded with their own secure personal network and computers fitted to Team Arrows personal needs. The mobile station had been Felicity’s pet project for the last few months. She had become stir crazy being stuck in the Foundry for every mission and created a mobile station in which she could monitor Oliver, Diggle and Roy when they were out on missions or patrol. The mobile station was state of the art, fitted with the newest tech, and even its own medical bay. 

Oliver had yet to move away from the large screen outside QC. He stood frozen, out of fear, worry, and anger, at the people who had taken his company and family hostage. 

Diggle and Roy had spent the last 3 hours searching for anything connected with the Green Brigade. Turned out the Green Brigade was one of the largest environmental terrorist groups on the planet. It had begun as a Green Peace-like organization dedicated to protecting the environment, but had become radicalized over the last 2 years. The group had been implicated in a number of kidnappings, bombings and corporate sabotage cases across the globe. Damian Holt, the leader and founder of the Green Brigade, had over a dozen of warrants out for his arrest in numerous jurisdictions. 

The black screen suddenly sparked to life showing Damian Holt with his mask still on standing behind Felicity, Moira and Isabel. It seemed their captors had a little bit of decency, they had allowed their three main hostages to sit instead of kneel. 

“Hello, Mr. Queen. I see the police have allowed you to enter the perimeter they have set up. Very kind of them don’t you think,” smirked Damian while pointing his gun at Felicity’s head. 

“Under one of the benches near the entrance you will find a radio walkie talkie. That will be my only source of communication with you, and you only. I will not be negotiating with any law enforcement officials,” stipulated Damian moving his gun towards Moira’s head. 

“As you will note this broadcast is live and it’s being shown on screens across Starling, online too. Got to keep up with social media, you know. You may be wondering why we have targeted your company. Well, it seems Queen Consolidated has been a very, very bad company. And I’m not just talking about the fact that your company was responsible for the machine that leveled the Glades, but what your company has been doing overseas as well. It seems that your Applied Science division has been working overtime to create machines of mass destruction. From our oceans to our forests, Queen Consolidated has had their sticky little fingers in every pie, haven’t they? Your company may not be the ones who are committing the acts, but your technology is aiding in the destruction of our planet,” voiced Damian in a deadpanned voice as he moved the gun to Isabel’s head. 

“Our demands are quite simple. Starting immediately Queen Consolidated will cease their efforts and production in creation of the list of technology you know see scrolling across the screen. Along with ceasing the production of this tech you will also transfer one billion dollars to the secure accounts provided in Bitcoins. You will allow for the egress of my group once these transactions have been completed. Any move to track these transactions or our escape will result in the execution of your employees. Any attempts by law enforcement to breach this building will result in the execution of your employees. If you do not comply with our demands we will execute every single one of your employees, starting with your mother.” 

“You have 24 hours to comply with our demands, Mr. Queen. If you have not fulfilled our demands within the allotted time, we will execute all of your employees that we are holding hostage.” 

Oliver stood in front of the screen as it suddenly panned to the cafeteria showing him every single one of his employees and the state they were in. None of them looked like they were hurt, most just looked shaken or in a state of shock. The fact that they were surrounded by over 30 gunmen patrolling the perimeter around them did little to ease his mind about the concern for their safety. He noted that the weapons they were carrying were definitely military issued weapons, which could’ve been easily obtained on the black market, making them nearly untraceable. 

Oliver had no idea what he was supposed to do. He had never dealt with a situation where the lives of hundreds of people fell upon his shoulders. He watched helplessly as his mother and Felicity had a madman aim a gun at their heads and demand things he didn’t think he could do by himself. QC had finally turned a corner and halting production and distribution of any tech would plunge the investor confidence and throw the company back into turmoil. On the other hand, as Oliver watched Damian aim the gun at Felicity’s head and then his mother’s all he wanted to do was don his green suit and put the fear of God into that crazed so called environmentalist. 

While Oliver stood still, the flurry of activity around him ramped up to top speed. The police had begun searching for the walkie talkie that the Green Brigade had left. Detective Lance was conversing with the lead negotiating officer, trying to figure out how to proceed. Diggle was still searching for any information on the Green Brigade. Thea, on the other hand, was as frozen as her brother. She watched in horror as a gun was pointed at her mother’s head demanding things from her brother she wasn’t certain he could deliver. 

BOOM 

A fireball erupted near the entrance of QC, shattering some of the glass windows of QC’s lobby. Two of SCPD’s officers were close enough to the explosion to have been thrown back by the kinetic energy of the bomb. Law enforcement officers, paramedics, and firefighters began running towards the explosion. Luckily they were able to move both officers and neither were hurt badly enough that they couldn’t stand up on their own two feet and walk. The fire was put out quickly and the fire department quickly identified the source of the fireball as a bomb. 

“Oliver,” inquired Diggle pointing at the explosion site, “isn’t that where one of the benches were.” 

The large screen that had been showing video of the hostages switched suddenly to Damian, still swinging his gun around between Felicity, Moira and Isabel. 

“I see you’ve received one of my surprises, Mr. Queen,” declared Damian smiling through his mask. “It’s one of the many surprises I have planned for you and the fine officers of SCPD over the next 24 hours. They’re little incentives to help you speed up the process of fulfilling my demands. And let me tell you, these surprises only get bigger. I hope you enjoy them.” 

Once again the screen switched back to video of the hostages just as suddenly as Damian had appeared. 

“Oliver,” screamed a hysteric Thea rushing towards Oliver, “you need to start doing something instead of standing there. They have mom. They’re going to kill her and everyone else in that building in that building if you do nothing.” 

Roy quickly moved to Thea’s side trying to calm her down, urging her to return to the mobile station for her own safety. She wasn’t hearing any of it though. 

“Oliver!” 

“What, Thea. What do you want me to do?” 

“Fulfill his demands, Oliver. Give him what he wants before he starts executing those people in that building. Before he kills our mother!” 

Like that Oliver moved towards the mobile station and picked up a phone calling every single one of the executive of operations in all QC subsidiaries to stop production on all projects. It took nearly an hour to reach every single executive and forced them to shut down everything. 

One of the SCPD officers had located the walkie talkie and had passed it to Oliver. With the acknowledgement from the lead negotiator and Detective Lance, Oliver began his conversation of his own demands with Damian Holt. 

“I’ve stopped production at all of QC’s subsidiaries. I need something in return though. Release the some of the hostages,” Oliver communicated over the walkie talkie. 

“Oh, Mr. Queen, did you really think that you have any say over what’s going to happen here,” declared Damian as his face was once again appeared on the screen. Damian’s demeanour changed immediately. “You have no control in this situation. The only person with any control is me. All you can do is react, Mr. Queen, and I’m going to prove that to you right now.” 

Suddenly a one of the gunmen dragged one of the hostages in front of the screen in beside Felicity. Oliver immediately recognized the hostage. Russell Cooper had been QC’s head of finance for nearly 20 years. Russell had backed Oliver when he took over as CEO of QC and had been one the company’s most loyal employees over the last 2 decades. Oliver had meet Russell’s wife and children, and considered him an ally when Isabel had intended to takeover and gut QC. 

“Let me remind you, Mr. Queen,” declared Damian aiming his gun at Russell’s head, “you have no control in this situation.” 

BANG 

… 

-20 Hours Previously- 

Felicity really couldn’t believe that her day was going to get any worse than it already had when she began her day. That was until a group of armed men stormed into Oliver’s office demanding she step away from her computer.

The moment the alarm went off during her meeting with Isabel and Moira she rushed to her computer to see what was going on. The message was clear, Queen Consolidated had been breached and from what she could see from the security cameras in the lobby a number of gunmen had taken out most of QC security guards. Their bodies were littered across the lobby. She immediately began sending a message to Oliver and Diggle, alerting them to the situation. Unfortunately, the gunmen had taken down QC entire communication network. She was helpless to help save Moira, Isabel and herself. She was even more astonished and scared when she saw the number of QC staff that had been sequestered in QC’s cafeteria. The number of masked armed men patrolling around the hostages didn’t help in making her feel any better. 

The moment that CKP1 began speaking into the camera and addressing Oliver as Mr. Queen she knew that this had nothing to do with the fact that Oliver was the Arrow. This entire situation was centred on Oliver Queen being CEO of QC, which did not ease the dread that had begun forming in the pit of her stomach. As CKP1 began moving his gun from her head to Moira’s and then to Isabel’s, she really believed that he was going to shoot one of them in the head. As she heard that the camera was broadcasting live she understood that their captors must have set up their own secure communications network, while shutting down QC’s communication network, to enable such a broadcast. The girl in control of the computer system must have some computer skills to do what she was doing.

The demands that CKP1 were making were highly unreasonable. Liquidating a billion dollars and switching them into Bitcoins was nearly an impossible task, especially since liquidating such a larger amount of Queen or QC finances would have to include all three living members of the Queen family and the QC board if it were to be done in 24 hours. While any attempts to stop production at any of QC’s subsidiaries would literally bring the company to a halt, which would mean that investor confidence in QC would plummet and erase all the work that Oliver had put into trying to save QC after the Undertaking. If Oliver were to yield to CKP1’s demands it would destroy the company. If he didn’t yield to CKP1’s demands then he would be sentencing the entire QC staff to their deaths. If Oliver did yield to his demands then he would be destroying his family’s company. Oliver was screwed either way. 

She could only imagine what Oliver was thinking at that moment. She understood the guilt he carried with him from his time on the island. A guilt that grew tenfold when Tommy was killed during the Undertaking. Surely, but slowly, she had been able to break through some of his darkness, allowing his to see the light. If Oliver decided to go forward with either avenue that was demanded by him she knew that he would be swallowed up by the darkness, and there would be no return from it this time around. 

“Are you alright, Felicity,” asked Moira looking concerned. 

“I’m alright, Mrs. Queen. How are you feeling? Are you alright? Are you feeling okay? You didn’t get hurt coming down the stairs did you,” asked an alarmed Felicity rather quickly. 

Moira shook her head, smiling slightly. She may have seriously doubted Oliver’s decision to hire Felicity as his EA, but over the last year she had witnessed how much good Felicity had done for Oliver. She hadn’t failed to notice how much calmer Oliver was when he was around Felicity, or much happier and lighter he seemed. She saw a little more light in his eyes than was present when he returned from the island. She saw how much Felicity cared for Oliver as well. Always at his side, calming him down or providing him with the things he needed even before he asked. Moira understood without either of them saying it that the two of them had a relationship unlike any other. 

She had also witnessed the many times Thea had tried, and failed, to force Oliver into asking Felicity out on a real date. Sometimes the hilarity of the situation made her forget about all the horrible things that had befallen them as a family. She could not help but laugh at the video of Oliver and Tommy’s music videos of their boy band from when they were in their teens. Their outfits and hairstyles were something to behold. 

A mother always knows what her child is thinking, and that was true of Oliver when it came to Felicity, not much else though since his return. She could tell that her son had feelings for the girl, feelings that he was not able to comprehend, or admit to himself just yet. She knew that Felicity had feelings for her son as well. She also understood that neither of them had made any attempts to move their relationship forward, but with a little more time and some nudging, she knew that both of them would take the next step forward. 

“Would you two like to hug it out, or do either of you realize we are being held hostage by a bunch of madmen,” spoke Isabel under her breath starring pointedly at Moira and Felicity. 

Before either woman could respond to Isabel’s comment they heard a large BOOM and what sounded like shattering glass, as well as a slight sway of the building. 

CKP1 then moved directly behind the three of them and indicated to the girl controlling the computer system to start rolling the camera. 

Felicity felt sickened as CKP1 spoke of his surprises for Oliver and SCPD. She just hoped that Diggle and Roy were not hurt when the bomb went off. She hoped that the three of them were safe. Knowing them all she knew that they were already formulating a plan to rescue all of them from the so called Green Brigade. Felicity had known nothing about this group until CKP1 announced it. She had thought she would have heard of a least something about a group like the Green Brigade who were attempting to protect the earth. They must have gone to a lot of work to have kept themselves so hidden from the rest of society. 

It was over an hour later when Felicity finally heard Oliver’s voice. Felicity didn’t realize how calming Oliver’s voice was to her. All she wanted to do was see him to know that he was okay. She knew that his mind must be running a mile a minute trying to balance his job as QC CEO and as a worried son and employer. Felicity also understood how much control he must be exerting for him not to have stormed QC as the Arrow. She just wanted to assure him that everything was going to be okay. She wanted to just comfort him and make sure that he was okay, and to bring a little light into his day. 

Felicity listened as CKP1 declared to Oliver that he had no control over the situation and all he could do was react. Felicity didn’t realize that one of the armed men was dragging Russell towards her until he was sat beside her. Being Oliver’s EA meant that she had become friendly with most of the executives within QC, barring Isabel of course. Felicity always liked Russell, he was a kind family man that had supported Oliver and been one of his allies when Isabel had initially tried to take over the company. She watched in horror as Russell was dragged in front of the camera. Tears began streaming down Felicity’s face. She knew what was going to happen next and felt helpless knowing that she couldn’t stop it. She watched as CKP1 placed his gun on top of Russell’s head. She closed her eyes, fearing what she would see knowing what was going to come next. 

BANG

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't mean to always end on a cliffhanger, but that's just how my writing is. Hopefully I'll be able to post the next few chapters up in the next few days, but no promises. I'm actually supposed to be writing a few papers for school, but when your muse comes a calling you don't ignore it, professor and deadlines be damned!


	4. Plans in Motion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has taken me a little while to put up the next chapter. My life has become somewhat crazed in the last few days due to school and life in general. I am finishing my last semester as a undergrad university student (horahh) and the work load seems to have multiplied. Who knew deadlines and professors do give a damn about having you hand in papers on time? (Kidding, I knew that. I just hoped they didn't.)
> 
> The Lunar New Year also began on friday so I've also been a little hectic dealing with my family and everything that comes along with having to deal with your family. Which is why I haven't had the chance to sit down and actually do any writing. Seeing as it is a new year, may this year bring all of you a year of good health, good fortune and good times! ;) 
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

\- 1 Month Previously - 

Isabel watched as the waves lapped viciously upon each other as her helicopter landed on the ship. It was surprisingly metaphorical for what she was planning for the months to come. Her plans were finally coming to fruition after a long and arduous year. She never expected Oliver Queen, the prodigal son, to return home after the fall of the Glades. She never thought that he would be able to pull Queen Consolidated out of the hole is dug itself in so well either. Her patience was waning. No longer satisfied with waiting she had begun to enact her plans to take what was supposed to be hers. QC was supposed to be an easy job. The takeover was supposed to goes as all the other ones had; sweep in, take it over, and then gut the place from top to bottom then sell off the parts to the highest bidder. That’s how it was supposed to go, but the Fates had other plans in store, plans that did not sit well with hers. 

A smile she couldn’t help smother creped itself on to her face as she stepped off the helicopter. Long hours, hard work, and a lot of her own money had gone into ensuring that her plans would go through this time. While she had to admit Oliver served as a good opponent, he wasn’t a worthy enough one for her. The playboy billionaire façade was beginning to irk, that and the annoyingly perky blonde that was constantly by his side. She had many plans for Oliver Queen, and his perky blonde. 

Isabel was led through a maze of hallways to the other side of the ship where the captain’s office was situated. Isabel couldn’t help but notice all the improvements the ship had gone through since her last visit. It seemed the Green Brigade was putting some of their stolen money to good use. 

“I’ve liked what you’ve done with the place, Damian,” announced Isabel as she stepped through the threshold. 

“That’s high praise coming from you, Bel,” replied Damian as he got up and hugged Isabel. 

“So is everything is order,” questioned Isabel as she took the Captain’s seat. 

“Everything is in order, Isabel. This is all going to go down without a hitch.” 

“Good, because if I win, Damian, so do you. And if I lose, I will drag you down kicking and screaming with me,” said Isabel menacingly. 

 

-19 Hours Previously- 

Felicity’s ears were ringing. The spray of Russell’s blood on her face was still warm. The shaking she felt were the tremors that involuntary hijacked her body. Her eyes would not open. Opening her eyes meant seeing Russell’s lifeless body. And make the situation she was in all too real. Screams erupted around her. She could hear Moira yelling her name. She could hear the screams of the hundreds of QC staff that had just witnessed the execution of one of their executives. Yet, she still couldn’t open her eyes. She really didn’t think her day could get any worse than it already had until that moment when she heard the gun go off and the smell of gun powder and blood reached her nose. 

It was Oliver’s voice through the walkie talkie that finally broke through her thoughts. She could hear his voice over the radio waves. The mix of edge and fear in his voice was made her finally open her eyes. She could picture Oliver’s face looked like at that exact moment, his I’m-going-to-kill-everything-that-gets-in-my-way face. Felicity had witnessed that face only once when Oliver had gone after Malcolm Merlyn. 

Felicity opened her eyes and stared directly into the camera. Willing, hoping, and praying that Oliver understood what she was trying to say. She needed him to calm down, to think straight, and to not alert the entire world to his alter-ego as the Arrow. She knew that he was close, very close to losing it from the way his voice sounded over the radio. She just hoped that he could understand what she was telling him when she stared into the camera. 

Felicity and Oliver could have entire conversations through eye contact and their body language. While it took both of them way too long to realize what they were doing, the entire world seemed to notice it immediately. Diggle was the first to notice it having spent the most time with the both of them. Small touches, a twinkle in one of their eyes, a tilt of a head. It all added up to one of the most annoying and surprising things about Oliver and Felicity’s relationship. Anybody who had the chance to observe the two of them, whether in or outside of work, noticed it as well. Moira and Thea picked up on the intimate interactions after noticing how Oliver and Felicity interacted with one another at one of the galas that the Queens’ hosted. Both women noted how Felicity was able to maneuver Oliver out of a conversation with an investor with a slight tilt of his head and Oliver moving Felicity out of Isabel line of fire with a slight movement in with her fingers. These little innocuous movements in body language and small looks that would go unnoticed to most people described the relationship between Oliver and Felicity perfectly. Whether the two of them wanted to admit it to themselves there was an underlying connection between the two of them that the entire world was all to privy to. 

“As you can see you have absolutely no control here, Mr. Queen. I would advise you to stick to my game plan or be prepared to see what else I am capable of doing in the coming hours,” declared a triumphant CKP1 as he pulled Felicity’s head and placed the gun directly under her chin. 

“Don’t want to see all your allies die tonight do we, Mr. Queen,” taunted Damian before pushing Felicity to the ground. 

Still on the floor, Felicity watched as her captors dragged Russell’s lifeless body away from the scene of the crime, the captors not even trying to clean up the blood trail that followed in their wake. She couldn’t help but stare directly into Russell’s dead eyes as he was dragged away. The image forever imbedded in her mind, knowing full well it would haunt her dreams for years to come. 

The captors had ordered all the QC staff to quiet down or face the same fate Russell had. The lobby became eerily quiet. Not a sound came out of the entire staff. It was Moira who broke the silence when she asked if Felicity was alright when Felicity had been able to push herself up to sitting position. 

“I’m fine, Mrs. Queen,” said Felicity not entirely convinced herself still shaking slightly.

“It’s alright, dear, everything is going to be alright,” replied Moira not entirely convince herself either as she looked over the young woman ensuring that she was not hurt. 

Felicity stared at the camera for a moment before turning towards Moira making direct eye contact with the older woman. 

“You’re right, Mrs. Queen. Everything is going to be alright because Oliver is going to save us. He’s going to save all of us,” declared Felicity with more conviction than anyone in would have in her situation should have. 

“You really do believe in him don’t you, Miss Smoak?” 

“I’ve always believed in Oliver. He has yet to prove my belief in him unworthy, Mrs. Queen. Most people look at him and still see the boy he once was, not the man he is today. He’s done so much good for this company and for this city. He’s going to save us. I know it.” 

In that moment Moira understood why Oliver had hired Felicity as his EA. Why Thea was so desperate to see Felicity and Oliver together. Why the entire building had been speculating that the two had more than just a professional relationship. And why Felicity was the one that CKP1 had targeted first. 

Trust. Simple trust. Moira could see it shining in Felicity’s eyes. Felicity trusted Oliver completely. There was no hesitation or doubt that clouded that trust. No history to corrode it. No hate or fear to colour it. Felicity Smoak wholly and completely trusted her son. She trusted that he would do whatever it took to ensure their safety. 

Moira now understood why Oliver always felt comfortable around Felicity. Why his eyes always shone a little brighter when Felicity was in the room. Why he looked less haunted when she was near him. Why she felt an indescribable undercurrent when the two of them were in the same room. Beneath all the façade that came with their jobs, their responsibilities and the pressures of the outside world what solidified Oliver and Felicity’s relationship was trust. Moira knew what that kind of trust built. It built relationships that could withstand every force Mother Nature could conjure. It could withstand the test of time and the most difficult of hardships. It would serve as the beginning to a love story that poets could only dream to write volumes about. 

It was that moment that Moira realized that whatever it took she would ensure that Felicity would make it out of the building alive. Moira knew that her son was haunted from his time on the island. A period she wish she could erase from his mind, and his body. She knew that she was one of the reasons why he had lost 5 years of his life. Moira vowed that she would try to erase that darkness from her son’s eyes, and she knew that Felicity Smoak was the only one who was up to the task. 

 

-19 Hours Previously- 

Oliver watched as the Damian fired the gun at Russell’s head. He watched as Russell’s blood sprayed over Felicity’s face. He watched helplessly as Russell’s lifeless body crumpled to the ground. In that moment an unknown degree of anger and hatred rose in his body from his very core. All Oliver wanted to do was put as many arrows as he could fire into Damian’s body. He knew he was losing all the control he had over himself. He felt it slipping away the moment he saw Felicity in front of the camera, and nearly drained when Russell was placed beside her with Damian swinging his gun between the two of them. 

It took all the control that he had left to speak into the walkie talkie in an unfluctuating tone. He didn’t notice the edge and fear that crept into it though. 

“I understand all the control you have in this situation. I understand that you just shot and killed an innocent man in front of hundreds of people and god knows how many more watching on their screens. I understand that you have taken everything that I cherish and are now holding it hostage. But let’s get something straight. If you harm any of my employees, even a hair on their head, I will personally kill you myself. And I’ll make it the most painful experience you’ve ever felt in your miserable life. Do. You. Understand?” 

Oliver heard the small maniacal laugh that Damian emitted. He watched as Damian grabbed Felicity’s head and placed his gun under her chin and taunted him. 

Oliver watched as Felicity opened her eyes and stared directly into the camera, directly at him. She was telling him to calm down, to think, and to keep his composure. Even while being held hostage by a manic, Felicity was still his anchor. His light. Keeping him moving in all the darkness that surrounded him. Oliver was finally able to breathe a single breath in that moment. 

Oliver watched as Damian carelessly pushed Felicity to the ground while his co-captors dragged Russell’s body out of shot. His hand nearly crushing the walkie talkie he was holding. Oliver could only imagine what was going through Felicity’s mind. Knowing what she had witnessed would forever haunt her dreams. Dreams that he hoped she would never have to have dreamed. Dreams that he could help disappear, just as she helped him make some of his dark dreams disappear. It was something he knew he was going to regret having had her witnessed for the rest of his life. 

Oliver stood still as the officers’ activities around him jump nearly 10 levels. Officers were trying to determine what had just happened and why it had happened and what their next steps were going to be. 

“Oliver,” snarled Detective Lance, “who was the person that mad man just shot?” 

“His name is Russell Cooper. He’s been the head of QC finance department for nearly 20 years. He has a wife and two children. He was my friend,” the words spilling out of Oliver without him clearly thinking it through. 

Oliver was left alone after Detective Lance had acquired the information he needed. Oliver stared at the screen, wishing he could be there protect her. He watched as Felicity pushed herself back up into a sitting position. Oliver could hear his mother and the concern running through her voice for Felicity. 

He listened, eyes closed, trying to regain his composure. Along with everybody else watching, he listened as Felicity began to reassure Moira that she was okay. He watched as Felicity stare into the camera for a moment, letting him know she was okay, before turning to his mother. 

He listened as Felicity spoke about her unwavering belief in him, his accomplishments and his capabilities. He listened to the strength and sureness in her voice as she spoke to Moira about him. Felicity was always knew what to say to people, sometimes before they even knew what they needed to hear. No matter how much he tried to barricade her from his heart and soul, Felicity always found a way to hack in. It was her job. Hacking computers was something she did no one else was capable of doing at the same level. Hacking into his life and heart was nothing that Oliver ever expected when he walked into her cubicle all those years ago. But was eternally grateful for. 

Over the last year he really begun to realize how much Felicity mattered to him. How much influence she had over him. How much good she had done for him. How much their non-verbal conversations meant to him. He trusted Felicity implicitly. She was one of the few people in the world that understood him completely. She knew all his faults and darkness, but never wavered from his side. He never spoke to anyone about how much she meant to him, other than Tommy of course. Unbeknownst to everyone he had begun to pay a weekly trip to Tommy’s grave. Revealing to Tommy everything he couldn’t verbalize to anyone else. He told Tommy about Felicity, about how much she meant to him. About how much he cherished her and the light she brought to his life. About all the feelings he had for her that he couldn’t reveal for fear of losing her. About how much he had fallen for her. About how much he loved her. 

Oliver would never reveal to anyone how much he was in love with Felicity. It was already too much to have her in his life as it was. The target that he would place on her if he was to reveal how much she really meant to him would be enormous he couldn’t risk that. No matter how much he wished he could. 

Oliver hoped that he had the strength and control to follow through with Felicity’s belief in him and save everyone in the building. At that moment, standing in front of the screen, with the world pressing down on him, Oliver he wished to just hold her in his arms for just a moment. To tell her how much she meant to him and how grateful he was to have in his life. To just tell her something he thought he would never admit to anyone but his dead best friend. To admit that he was desperately, deeply, and completely in love with her, and had been for a long time. 

It was Roy’s hand on his shoulder that drew Oliver out of his thinking. 

“Oliver. Dig found something. You’re going to want to see this. You’re not going to like though,” spoke Roy gesturing to the van before making his way there. 

Oliver took a deep breath before looking at the screen, looking at Felicity before he made his way to the van.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think? Do you like where the story is going? Do you like the development between Felicity and Moira? As always comments and kudos are always welcomed.


	5. The Reveal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you guys for being so supportive with the views, the kudos, and the comments. They really are encouraging and fantastic and I am so thankful and overjoyed by them. 
> 
> The reasons why it has taken me so long to post the next chapter: 
> 
> 1) I am still reeling from the previous episode of Arrow, as most of us are or have. The last few seconds just threw me for a loop and kind of thrown me off a little, well a lot actually, and I just have not felt like writing this story. I really can't explain in words about how I felt initially, but I may have thrown a pillow at my TV and screamed a it a bit. I really don't know what the writers are doing with that plot, but let me tell you if they screw with Felicity's character I'M OUT! After reading quite a few angsty fanfics and maybe, possibly entertaining the idea of Slade/Felicity pairing, I was even more thrown off from writing. That being said if I had posted the chapter that I had written after watching the show initially a certain major character (you know who I'm talking about) may have ended up dead, or at least seriously hurt. I deleted that chapter (sometimes writing is the cheapest form of therapy). 
> 
> 2) The Winter Olympics are on, and as a proud Canadian hailing from a city that has hosted a winter olympic, I can't help but watch and cheer. They are just so exciting and amazing show of what human ingenuity, resilience, and hard work can accomplish. That and the fact that something good can emerge from living in countries that spend 8 months of the year trapped in freezing cold war with a hell of a lot of snow is pretty amazing. I love the Winter Olympics, even curling! 
> 
> 3) School! (I think one word explains it all) 
> 
> Ps: I have also upped the content rating from general audience to teen as I feel some of the material that is in this chapter and chapters to come will warrant such a rating.

-1 Month Previously- 

Amber watched as Isabel’s helicopter took off, her mind still reeling from the conversation she had overheard between Isabel and Damian. While she had met Isabel only once before, she knew that Damian and Isabel had a history, what that history was she had not been privy to. She knew that Isabel was the Co-CEO of Queen Consolidated but had intended to become its only CEO when she decided to take it over nearly a year ago. Amber had known little else of Isabel other than what Damian had said previously of told her. What she did know was that Isabel Rochev was not a woman to be crossed. Isabel was determined, cunning and conniving, but from what she had just overheard, quite bloodthirsty as well. 

Isabel’s plan was simple, have the Green Brigade take control of the entire Queen Consolidated HQ and hold the building and its employee’s hostage until Oliver Queen succumbed to their demands. The surprise bombings and executions were all part of the plan to instil distrust in Oliver’s ability as CEO and drive away current and future investors from QC making it susceptible to an extremely hostile takeover. The plan was to implode the company from inside out, and destroy the Queen family in the process. It would be Amber’s job to take out all of QC HQ security protocols, as well as the to set up and manage broadcast that would run for the 24 hours that it would take to execute Isabel’s plan. While the plan and the attention that the group would receive was worrying that wasn't what frightened her the most. She was worried that Damian could be seriously hurt or injured in the process, but more importantly and frighteningly was that his psyche could not handle any more strain. 

Amber has been a student at MIT when she met Damian. He was charming and sweet and entirely dedicated to saving the environment. She was drawn to him immediately. Their courtship was a happiness-induced blur; they married 8 months after their first date. She dropped out of MIT in her 3rd year to join Damian on his adventures in saving the environment. It wasn’t until a year later into their marriage that she began to notice certain erratic behaviour from Damian. Those small outbursts became full blown when Damian’s best friend was killed during one of their excursions to stop a company from drilling for oil on the ocean floor in the Arctic Ocean. It was at that point that Green Brigade went from environmentalist protection group to a radicalized environmental terrorist group, forcing the group to move onto a damn ship in order to evade arrest by staying in international waters. It also signalled the first signs of trouble in her marriage. 

The acts that Damian would have to commit in order to fulfil Isabel’s plan was daunting and terrifying. Amber had no clue as to why Damian would agreed to help Isabel even with all the money she was offering. Going through with the plan would draw unwanted attention to the group and place an incredibly large target on their backs. The chances of getting away scot-free would also diminish severely since they were directly targeting a multi-billion dollar multi-national company. Isabel’s plan was idiotic and dangerous, but Damian had begged for her help in seeing the plan through. It was a plea that she could not deny her husband, who mind was already in a fragile state. 

The QC mainframe was a harder to hack than she had first suspected. The firewall built around the mainframe was something that few other multi-national companies had, the firewall was custom built with the highest level of bit protection that she had ever seen. Of the all the companies that she had hacked before QC definitely had the best protection, but that didn’t stop her from getting through the firewall undetected. It wasn’t until she had done some research into QC and their IT department that she realized why the firewall was so good, the person who designed it was Felicity Smoak. Amber immediately recognized the name. Felicity Smoak was a legend in the MIT computer science department graduating summa cum laude, creating some of the best defensive software that the department head had ever seen. Rumours swirled that a number of government agencies had approached her with high-level security job offers before she even graduated. But that wasn’t why Amber recognized the name. Amber knew the name because Felicity had been her RA for her 2 years at MIT.

-14 Hours Previously- 

Diggle and Roy had left Thea and Oliver pretty much alone for the past several hours. Oliver had sat in the van, motionless, in the same spot he was seated in when Diggle had revealed what he had found. Diggle had discovered who had hacked into QC mainframe and the person running the broadcast that everybody was seeing through a program that Felicity had created. The hacker was identified as Amber Lowel, a former MIT student that had become an underground legendary Black Hat since she dropped out of MIT. The program had identified specific markers of Amber’s code-writing to the worm that had broken through QC security mainframe. The program also identified Amber as a high ranking member of the Green Brigade and the wife of Damian Holt. They had discovered Damian’s vulnerable spot, his wife. 

Oliver just didn’t know what to do with that information. They may have discovered Damian’s wife, but she was also in the building with the Damian and all the hostages. There was no way to get to her. No way to get her to help them. No way for her to provide them with information to help free the hostages. What should have been a gain for them quickly turned into another wounding loss. To add to the already disheartening situation even more, Oliver had been inundated with calls from numerous of domestic and international investors either to chide him on his inability to handle the situation and the shutdown of all of QC’s subsidiaries or to pull their financial investments in the company. 

Oliver’s day was becoming exceedingly worse by the hour. He was exhausted emotionally. He hadn’t felt this out of control and helpless since his time on the island. He couldn’t think straight, his mind was going in so many different directions and every thought continuously crashing into each other. Hundreds of lives were on the line, and his family’s company too as it was becoming clear. The island may have taught him to react quickly while on his feet to any situation, but nothing had prepared him for this. He had no ideas, no plans, and most importantly, no Felicity to guide him through it. Every time Oliver had become stuck or trapped in a situation it was always Felicity’s quick thinking and skills that got him out of it. But as he sat in his chair, helplessly, and watched as Felicity yielded to the mercy of a mad man, he nearly lost his mind. He couldn’t just storm his way into the building, either as Oliver Queen CEO or as the Arrow. He had no way to save his employees, his mother, or the woman he loved. He felt just as helpless as he had when he was floating on that life raft in the China sea. 

The SCPD was of little help as well. They had no clue as to how to rescue the hostages from the building without blowing everybody up in the process. The captors had chosen their stations strategically as to be out of range for any sniper. They also had no idea on how to deactivate the communications shutdown that had affected the entire QC HQ. All they could do was surround QC HQ and not let anyone through the barricades they had set up around it. The SCPD was just, if not more, helpless than Oliver in attempting to rescue the hostages. 

The liquidation of a billion dollars was not going smoothly either. Oliver had already emptied out two of the Queen’s family trusts but was still short of the billion dollars needed to fulfil the ransom demand. He needed more liquid capital but had few avenues left in which to accomplish such a feat in the period of time that was left. Oliver was running out of options. 

Damian Holt suddenly appeared on the screen again. This time in a different vantage point that he had been previously. 

“Tick tock, Mr. Queen. Time is beginning to wind itself down. I do hope you know what you are doing,” smirked Damian as he looked into the camera. 

“While you continue to try and meet my demands I have another surprise for you, and the SCPD. A little game of hide and seek if you will. I have hidden all around Starling City live C4 bombs that are set to go every hour beginning at the t-minus 12 hour mark of this little adventure of mine. It will be the job of the SCPD, and yours of course, to find these bombs in time before they blow and make a lot of people go bye-bye,” Damian snorted in a deranged baby-cooing like voice. 

“Now to make this even more interesting and more incentivized for you, Mr. Queen. I have here a little cocktail that one of my dear friends created,” voiced Damian, grinning like a Cheshire cat, as he twirled a syringe in-between his fingers, “and I can personally say that is has some wild effects on one’s mind. It is an anti-anesthesia, turns every touch upon one’s body into an excruciatingly painful experience. It also makes one quite susceptible to truth-telling too. It’s quite an amazing cocktail if I do say so myself.” 

“If you, and the SCPD, are able to find just 1 of my bombs in the next two hours I will deactivate all of them. Now, if you are unable to find any of them then Starling City goes boom, boom. Not only will I make this city go boom, boom, I’m going to give this little cocktail to your pretty secretary. She must need some thrill in her life other than just bringing you coffee in the morning.” 

“You have two hours, Mr. Queen. I’d get moving if I were you,” Damian triumphantly declared, even having the nerve to give the camera a little wink before the screens going black. 

Thea’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at the screens, more traumatized than she had when this entire ordeal had begun. 

Diggle, Roy, and Detective Lance rushed to van in seconds. Detective Lance demanding Oliver get his ass out of the chair and help search for the bombs that Damian had placed all around the city. The entire SCPD force had been order by the police commissioner to begin a search, street-by-street, building-by-building, for the bombs that the Green Brigade had planted. 

It was Diggle’s voice that finally shook Oliver from his hours of reprieve.

“Oliver, you need to get up. We’ve got to find these bombs before the two hour period is up or this entire city is going to blow up,” Diggle spoke forcefully before grabbing Oliver by the shoulders and staring directly into the other man’s eyes. 

“Man, the only way that you are going to save Felicity is if you help find these bombs before the time is up. If you don’t then these guys win!” 

Oliver’s mind snapped back into consciousness immediately. 

“Roy, you stay here with Thea and monitor the situation from here. Diggle, we got to grab the bikes and coordinate a way of communication between us and the rest of the SCPD to ensure we find the bombs in time,” ordered Oliver. 

With Diggle at his side, far enough from the van and the police, did Oliver speak quietly to Diggle in a voice that wreaked of malice and anger. 

“When were done finding these bombs. I’m going go into that building and personally put as many arrows into that son of a bitch as I can.” 

-14 Hours Previously- 

Isabel listened as Damian reiterated the plans that she had worked so hard to put into place. The Green Brigade really knew what to do when you swung money and the idea of saving the environment in front of their faces. The same could be said for Damian of course. 

Isabel knew of Damian’s precarious state of mind, especially after the death of his best friend a few years ago in the Arctic. She was well aware of Amber’s hidden worry about her husband’s state of mind. She was also aware of the calming effect that Amber’s presence had on Damian, she kept him focused and on task where his mind wander. She also kept most of Damian’s outbursts at bay as well. 

What Isabel knew, that no one else did, was that Damian had turned to drugs in order to make himself feel. The drug that he so easily waved around was not initially designed to be used as a weapon to hurt others, but was synthesized by a scientist to help Damian feel. She had contracted the scientist herself to create the drug for Damian. 

Isabel had always know that there wasn’t something entirely right with Damian. Even when he was a child he was never able to absolutely focus, his mind wandering aimlessly sometimes. Damian also never felt pain. Even when he was severely punished as a child, he never complained about the pain that was inflicted upon him. Damian just took beating after beating. While Damian was left bloodied and bruised after every beating he was never broken, most likely because he was already broken. When he was older he was diagnosed with congenital analgesia, the inability to feel pain. It wasn’t until he began to take the synthesized drug that he began to feel pain, something he had whole-heartedly welcomed and subsequently become addicted to it. That drug had become Damian's greatest weakness, and something she leveraged against him in order to help her with her takeover. 

Isabel watched as Damian finished his speech to Oliver about the other bombs that the Brigade had placed around the city and Amber turning off the camera. While no one noticed Damian’s change in body language, she did. The slight twitch in his left foot was indicative of the drug beginning to wear off. Isabel couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the drug were to completely disappear from Damian’s system. She knew that he had brought only a small supply of the drug with him and injecting himself with the drug would only draw unwanted attention from his wife. Isabel hoped, prayed, that Damian had what it took to finish executing her takeover of QC, but if he didn’t she knew she would have to take matters into her own hands. Damian might be the leader of the Green Brigade and supposed master mind behind this entire charade, but there no way in hell was she going to let her brother ruin her carefully constructed plans to takeover QC.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please comment on your thoughts about the chapter, they are always welcomed because they make me a better writer and I just love hearing what you have to say (good or bad). 
> 
> I will try to put up the next chapter soon. No promises though! Hockey and figure skating are about to take off/ I should start the research for my final papers, so no promises. Though, I have already written the final chapter of this story, I just got to fill in all the in-between parts, so hopefully it won't take too long. :)


	6. The Race against Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you to guys who have been reading, subscribing, commenting and giving the story kudos! It really does mean to the world to me to have your support. Thank you for all of your continued support! 
> 
> Second, I am really, really, really sorry that it has taken me so long to post a new chapter. I have been hit with a case of writer's block and it's really stuck. Every time I have sat down to write this chapter I would just end up deleting it because I didn't love it. 
> 
> Third, I am now more in love with Diggle than I was ever before. He really is the only one with any type of perception skills on the show at the moment. Diggle + Felicity = BrOTP forever! 
> 
> Fourth, I am in my last stretches of finishing my degree so I'm going to be bogged down with more researching and writing than I have ever been before (which I should probably be doing right now, but writing this is way more fun instead). That means that the next few chapters are going to take a lot longer to go up than I would like it to. But don't fear! I love this story and I love writing it, most of the time. I am going to finish it, its just going to take a lot longer than I had initially thought. So please bear with. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! :)

-13 Hours Previously-

Time was ticking away as Felicity watched the timer hit the one hour mark. Only one hour was left until CKP1 would begin to set off the bombs that he had planted all over Starling City. One hour left until she would be injected with the pain-inducing cocktail that might very well kill her or force her to reveal the nature of her other job. One hour until Oliver would be forced to watch as the city he had sworn to protect, be destroyed by another mad man. One hour left until Oliver would lose all control over the current situation that they had all been dragged into. 

And that was what Felicity was afraid of most. 

Felicity, unlike all the people that were a part of Oliver’s life, understood how truly fragile he really was. The trauma that he had experienced on the island would never truly dissipate from his consciousness. Even years after his return home, he was still haunted by nightmares about the island. She had once glimpsed Oliver in the midst of one of his nightmares. The sheer look of terror that graced Oliver’s face was nothing that Felicity had ever witnessed before. Oliver was the strongest and most fearless person she had ever known, and to see the terror that he felt during his nightmare tore at her heart. No words could describe the protectiveness that rose from within her when she witnessed one of his nightmares. While she knew that Oliver would never seek professional help for the trauma he had experienced, she had tried to talk to him about what he had experienced on the island and the repercussions it had on waking life, but to no avail. Oliver blocked every single attempt Felicity made. 

Oliver played the façade of a man with no real care to a T. But it was a façade. Just like being the playboy everyone thought he was, or being QC CEO, or even the Arrow. They were all masks that Oliver donned to protect his true self, a self that had been damaged from years of death, terror, and isolation on the island. The masks were a way in which Oliver could control the situation he was in. Whether it was in the boardroom or a dark alley, it was Oliver’s way of retaking the control that he had lost while on the island. She saw through all of Oliver’s façades. All the masks that he donned could not cover the man she knew him to truly be. Felicity knew how strong Oliver was, he could not have survived five years on the island and all the bombshells that he had faced on his return if he was not. She knew that, despite all the frustrations and stress that came with being the CEO of QC, Oliver did care about his family’s company and its impact on the world. She knew that he had the driest sense of humour of anybody she had ever known, even if he kept it under control most of the time. And above all, Felicity knew that Oliver loved. He cared about all and loved all those that he allowed into his life. He loved his mother and sister dearly. He cared about Diggle like the brother he never had. He even cared about Roy, however reluctantly he was. Felicity knew he cared about her. Oliver kept his true self protected from the world by donning different façades when they were called for, but he could never truly hide himself from her. 

Oliver’s façades were beginning to break.

She heard it in his voice, the ever slightly, practically unnoticeable, increase in octave. Even though she could not see him, she knew what he must have looked like in those moments. Oliver had a nervous tick, a tick that had gone unnoticed by most of those who were around, but had not gone unnoticed by her ever observant view. His fingers would contract and flicker against each other whenever he was placed in a situation where he felt his control beginning to wan. It was Oliver’s tell. A tell she had become accustomed to, and one she had gone far lengths to curtail. Whenever she saw his tell, she would strategically extract him from the situation and move him into one that did not make him as nervous. It was her small way of protecting him, protecting someone she cared deeply about. No matter how physically intimidating he was, no matter how strong he was, no matter how many façades he donned, Oliver was still human. He deserved protection just like anyone else, just like he had protected Starling City as the Arrow. Felicity would protect Oliver, the true Oliver, the one he protected with many different façades. She would do everything in her power to protect the man she had fallen in love with. 

Felicity hoped and prayed to every single deity she could think of that the bombs would be found before the hour was up. If the bombs were to go off, she would not be able to protect him from the loss of control he would surely experience. She never wanted Oliver to experience the terror and loss of control that he had felt on the island ever again. She had sworn to herself that she would give everything to ensure that terror she had once witnessed on his beautiful face would never grace his waking face again. 

That was what, above everything else, she was afraid of most. Felicity did not fear the carnage and horror that was sure to ensue if the bombs were set off. She did not fear being injected with CKP1’s pain-inducing cocktail. What she feared most was that she would be unable to protect Oliver, the Oliver she knew, if those bombs were to go off. 

 

-13 Hours Previously- 

Oliver had felt fear before. It had been a constant in his life when he was stranded on the island for five years. It was also what had kept him alive all those years on the island. Fear was a stimulant that kept him moving when his enemies were knocking at his doors. The fear, however, that Oliver now felt was like nothing he had ever felt before. His fear was not for his own life, but for the life of a person that meant everything and more to him than anyone else in the world. He feared for the woman that he loved, a woman who had yet to hear him utter those words to her. Oliver was going to change that the moment he had her in his arms again. 

“Oliver, we need to move on to the next site. There’s no bomb here,” said Diggle over the coms. 

“Roy, have the police found any of the bombs yet,” asked Oliver angrily. 

“They’ve found nothing. I’ve been monitoring all the feeds. No one knows anything about where the bombs could have been placed. All major public sites have been racked through with a fine tooth comb by the police search teams and nothing,” replied Roy. 

“Did the Sniffer pick up anything,” asked an increasingly frustrated Oliver. The Sniffer had been Felicity’s prized creation of coding that she had spent nearly a year working on. The Sniffer was a coded systems sweep worm that worked similarly to a sniffer dog. Give it something to search for and let it loose on the Internet. It was a masterful piece of AI-like software that Felicity had created as a way to increase her effectiveness as the Arrow’s IT extraordinaire. The Sniffer had begun sweeping every computer and mainframe in the city, looking for anything that could lead them to the location of one of the bombs. 

Oliver was becoming increasingly agitated and frustrated that none of the bombs had yet to be found.  
No one had any idea on where Damian could have hidden the bombs and none of their searches had turned up anything. In all his time as the Arrow, Oliver had never felt as frustrated and angry as he did right then. He had not felt as lost or out of control in that moment since the island. 

If Felicity was there she would have it all figured out by now. Not only was she beautiful and kind, she had a mind that was out of this world. She would have known what to do.

Felicity was the one, the only one really, who could calm him down when he had become as frustrated, or angry, or when he felt like he was losing control. Felicity was his anchor, the one to ground him or the one to lift him when he needed it. She was one of the few people who would stand up to him and tell him he was wrong, even when he thought he was right. Felicity was his light. Even her name had become a totem of serenity for him. It was fitting that her name meant great happiness, because that what she was to him, his great happiness. All he could think about was the pain she would endure if he failed to find one of the bombs. He had sworn to protect her when he brought her into his world, and he was so afraid that he would fail her tonight. 

“Oliver,” said Diggle as he placed his hand on the other man’s shoulder. 

“We’re going to find one. We’re going to figure a way to get into QC and save all those people in that building. We’re going to save her, Oliver. We’re not going to lose her.” 

Oliver closed his eyes and breathed a little better after hearing his friend’s words of assurance. While he had started out his journey as alone and isolated as he had been on the island, he had been joined by a man that he had come to trust and admire. Diggle had not only become an essential part of the team, he had also become a central part of Oliver’s life. While Tommy would always remain his best friend, he considered Diggle more than just a friend. Diggle was the brother that he never had; offering him advice when he asked for it and also when he didn’t. He wouldn’t have been able to do what he did, both as the Arrow and QC’s CEO, without Diggle. 

“Oliver, I think Sniffer may have found something,” proclaimed Roy, pulling Oliver out of his moment of reprieve. 

“Sniffer has picked up a weird transmission signal emitting from City Hall.” 

“Alert SCPD. We’re heading there now,” replied Diggle. 

…

They had less than 15 minutes before the first bomb would go off and no one had found any traces of the bomb yet. Starling’s City Hall had been searched topped to bottom, by both humans and K-9s, but no one had found a trace of the bomb. 

“Roy,” Oliver nearly shouted through the coms, “are you sure that there is a signal coming from City Hall?” 

“I’m sure,” said Roy exasperated by Oliver’s constant questioning of his ability.

“And if you can’t trust me, at least trust Felicity, it’s her system that picked up the signal. The signal is entirely different from any transmission signal that is being broadcasted in Starling. This is definitely where Damian is hiding one of the bombs!” 

As calm as he tried to remain, Oliver was becoming frantic. He had donned the Arrow costume as soon as they began the search for the bombs. But even the mask of the Arrow was doing nothing to stomp his fear of failure if they couldn’t find the bomb in time. 

“Can you pinpoint the location of the bomb in the building,” asked Diggle, he himself becoming frustrated at not being able to find the bomb. 

“Let me try,” answered Roy as he gingerly began tapping at the keyboard. 

“OMG, get out of the way, Roy,” sounded Thea as she pushed him out of the way and began rapid taping at the key board, pulling up multiple sources of locations of where the transmission was emitting. 

After coming to terms with her brother being the Arrow and her boyfriend being part of a rag tag team of vigilantes, Thea had thrown her weight behind in trying to help her brother find a way to save their mother, their family company, and Felicity. Thea always wanted to be superspy, being part of a super hero team was pretty close to that desire. 

It worried both Oliver and Roy that Thea had so easily swept the bombshell news under the carpet and planted herself onto Team Arrow without asking. 

“Ollie, there looks to be 5 sites inside City Hall where the transmissions are emitting from. I’ll send you the directions and alert SCPD to the other locations,” ordered Thea. 

…

“Thea, I can’t find anything. There’s no bomb here. None of the SCPD tactical teams can find any of the bombs either in the locations you gave them,” declared Oliver his frustrations and fear flooding his entire system. 

5 minutes. That was all that was left before the hour was up. 5 minutes until Damian would set off the first bomb. 5 minutes until he would break the oath he made to protect Felicity from harm when she had joined him on his crusade to save Starling. 5 minutes was all that was left for Oliver to be the hero that Felicity believed him to be. 

“They have to be there, Ollie! The signals are there, they have to be there. I don’t know where else they could be. Wait! OMG! Ollie, they’re tunnels that run directly below City Hall. They’re part of the old Starling City subway network that was decommissioned over 20 years ago. The line runs directly under all the locations that are emitting the transmission signal,” screamed Thea. 

“Ollie, get out of there right now. GET OUT NOW!” 

-12 Hours Previously-

Isabel listened as the first bomb went off. Damian had Amber hack SCPD's radio transmissions to track their movements. It allowed them a front seat view to the plan she had set in motion. She never liked City Hall anyway, too many pushy backstabbing politicians for her taste. At least that was one of the targets crossed off the list. 

Her plan was coming along just fine. Damian seemed to be moving along better than she had hoped, but she had a plan to keep her brother in line if he began to sway. 

She was looking forward to watching Felicity suffer, and all her plans finally coming to fruition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? Did you hate it? Questions? 
> 
> As always comments and kudos are gratefully welcomed. 
> 
> I hoped you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I had writing it! :) 
> 
> PS: While writing this chapter I had the song "More Than Anyone" by Gavin Degraw playing in the background. I usually write while listening to music and this song really inspired the writing of this chapter.


	7. Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see! I'm glad to be getting back into writing from my extended break, of which I did not plan to be so long, so thank you guys for waiting patiently for an update. 
> 
> A few of the reasons as why I've been gone so long: I've finished up my last semester of university so I am now officially a university graduate (yay) and now I have to figure out what to do with my degree (uh-oh). I also went on a little vacation to one of my favourite places in the world (San Francisco). Along with that, my muse seems to have been playing a game of hide-and-seek with me (at least with this story). So I apologize for the really late update but I hope, I really hope, to finish this story in the next few weeks so please bear with me for a little bit longer. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading and commenting over the last few months that I have been away from the story. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and responding to them. I'm so glad that so many of you have enjoyed what has happened and I hope you enjoy what is to come. I've also got a couple of other Olicity stories going on, so check them out if you're interested. :) 
> 
> A big shout out and thank you to Trish (aka Stilettoroyalty on tumblr) for mentioning me in her favourite writers list, of which I seriously do not think I should be even remotely a part for obvious reasons, just look at that list. I don't do this at all when it comes to promoting other peoples blogs or anything, but check out her tumblr if you haven't already, because she's absolutely amazing, especially when it comes to the Olicity/Arrow fandom!

 

 

-11 Hours Previously-

 

_Pain_. Bone-grinding, flesh-burning, bloodcurdling pain ran through her body. She had never felt pain like this ever before, never imagined that the human body could sustain such an amount of pain and survive, fully knowing that her body was not built for this kind of trauma. Every inch of her body burned. Every movement, every touch sent volts of pain thundering through her body. Her screams were involuntary. She couldn’t help but release them because there was no other exit for the pain that coursed through her body. If death came for her at that moment she would kindly accept.

All of her senses had been amped up by 100%. She could feel, hear and smell everything around her. The effectiveness of the cocktail that CKP1 had given her was immediate. She could do nothing to stop the tears that had begun to run down her face. She knew she probably looked like a complete mess but she couldn’t think, couldn’t give a damn, about that now. All she could do was to try and turn her mind off and shield herself from the pain, but she knew she couldn’t shield him from baring witness to it all.

Even in the state she was in she was worried about him. Was he hurt in the explosion? Was it bad? Was Dig hurt? Was Roy? What was going on out there? As much as she tried to shut down her brain, her mind was running at maximum speed.

She felt his cloying breath on her face as he began talking into the camera. His voice was a triumphant one, pumped full of ego, knowing that he had outplayed Oliver in this circumstance and fulfilled one of his promises.  She screamed even louder when he grabbed her, pulling her off the ground, moving her towards the and nearly pushing her face into the lens of the camera.

“You lost, Queen.”

Felicity’s world became black in that moment. Her body succumbing to the pain that had wracked her body the moment the cocktail entered her system, her mind shutting off, before being unceremoniously shoved to the ground by CKP1.  

“FELICITY,” was all that could be heard through the radio and outside of QC HQ, the scream sounding terrifyingly similar to that of a wounded animal in the forest. The only sound that escaped Oliver’s mouth the moment he saw Felicity collapse onto the ground.

 

…

 

-12 Hours Previously-

 

_Pain_. That was all Oliver felt in every inch of his body. His head was spinning. His ears were buzzing. His vision was blurry. His mind completely exhausted. And all he could think about, all he could picture was Felicity’s face as he pushed himself off of the floor. Her beautiful smiling face, a smile filled with hope, faith and trust in him. Her smile lit up his entire world. He knew. He knew if he failed Damian’s demands, Felicity and everyone else in that building would die. He had to push through the pain. He had to save her!   

“Oliver. OLIVER,” crackled Thea’s screaming over the coms.

“I’m okay, Thea. What the hell happened?”

“What the hell happened is that psycho manic placed the bombs underneath Starling City Hall through a decommissioned subway line. The entire ground beneath City Hall is now unstable. You and Diggle have to get out of there right now, Ollie. Right now!”

“Diggle! Diggle can you hear me?”

“I’m right here, Oliver,” spoke Diggle from a couple feet from him covered in dust and debris.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, everything just hurts. It’s nothing I haven’t experienced before,” replied Diggle jokingly as he pushed himself off the floor.

“You?” asked Diggle.

Before Oliver could reply to Diggle’s questioning of his wellbeing he was interrupted by Thea.

“You both have to get out of there now. The bombs that were set off might have destabilized the entire structure of City Hall. It’s unstable. I’ve already alerted Detective Lance and he’s in the process of getting the rest of the SCPD officers out of the building,” sounded a worried Thea, so similar to Felicity’s worried voice, yet still so different.  

Oliver never imagined that his younger sister would become involved in the Arrow business. He never wanted her anywhere near the business. He wanted her safe and protected from the horrors in the world. But just like Felicity, Thea was just too damned stubborn and smart for her own good. When she had discovered that he was the Arrow and that Roy was his sidekick she freaked out. She really freaked out. She felt betrayed by the two people she loved most in the world. But she eventually came to terms with what her brother and her boyfriend did at night, eventually. Thea and Felicity bonded quickly despite all the differences between them and became friends. That friendship propelled Thea into another sphere of pestering and blackmailing her brother into asking Felicity out. Thea had constantly said, out of Felicity’s earshot of course, that the two of them were meant to be with each other, they were just both to blind to see it, or too afraid to reach for it.

Oliver was afraid. In that moment, surrounded by debris and destruction caused by a madman, he felt the crushing pressure of everything collapsing in on him. The feeling of helplessness engulfed him. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think straight. Panic coursed through his entire body. Never had he felt as powerless as he was at that moment in his entire life. His world was beginning to collapse around him and he could do nothing to stop it. Everything he cared about, everything he loved was in danger. His city, his family’s company, his employees, his mother, and the one person that he knew he could not live without were all in danger. He felt like he was wagging a losing battle.

He had failed.

He failed to find the bombs in time and he knew the price of that failure. Starling City and its citizens would pay for his failures. His city, the one he vowed to protect, would become victim to another attack because of the Queen family. The city, the one that he had survived five years in purgatory to come home to protect was once again going to be at the mercy of another madman because he had failed.

Worst of all, the one person that he promised to protect, the one person he never wanted to see hurt was going to pay for his failures. Felicity would pay for his failures. She would be injected with Damian’s cocktail and suffer from its effects all because he had failed to find the bombs in time. Damian said that she would feel pain, unimaginable and excruciating pain. Pain that he could have protected her from if he had been smarter or faster, but he had not. He made a promise to Diggle to protect her when he brought her into his life, both as the Arrow and Oliver Queen. But now standing in the middle of a madman’s destruction he knew he had failed that promise. He had failed her.

“Oliver. OLIVER,” sounded Thea’s increasingly terrified voice over the coms breaking Oliver out of his trance-like state, “you have to get back to QC HQ right now Oliver. He says he wants you to see what happens when you fail to meet his demands. Oliver, he has Felicity.” Thea’s small sobs could be heard through the coms.

 

…

 

The ride back to QC HQ was thick with tension. Oliver knew what was going to happen and he had no way of stopping it. Diggle felt exactly the same way. Felicity was never supposed to come into harm’s way, never. They were supposed to protect her. They brought her into this world and it was their job to protect her, even if she didn’t think or wanted it.

“We’re going to find a way out of this, Oliver. We always do,” sounded Diggle, with more confidence that Oliver thought was possible at that moment.

“How can you be so sure Diggle? How?! We have no way of infiltrating the building. We have no plan! No way that I will be able to gather the ransom in time, there is no way that I can stop him from hurting Felicity!” The agitation in Oliver’s voice was becoming clear to Diggle.

“Oliver, you need to breathe, you need to think clearly.”

“I can’t,” whispered Oliver, the anger and fear evident in his voice.  

“I can’t think clearly! Not without her. I feel like I can’t breathe properly. Like the world is collapsing on me and I’m cemented to one spot, Dig,” grief spilling into his voice, his hands curling into tight fists.

“I can’t do this without her. She…she’s the reason I can do what I do. She guides me, strengthens me, she is my anchor. She is my centre, my still point in all of this chaos, and I’ve never even told her that, Dig. I’ve never told her how much she mean’s to me. How much I care about her. How much I love her,” Oliver’s voice faded into a whisper.  

“Now…now this psychopath has her and he’s going to hurt her because of me! And I can’t do anything to stop it!” The hollowness and defeat in Oliver’s voice unnerved Diggle. He had never heard his friend sound so defeated before.

“I know, Oliver! You don’t think I feel the same way you do? She’s my friend too. I care about her, about her well-being and her safety, but you can’t blame yourself for what is happening right now. She, and everyone else in that building, is counting on us to this thing out and take out that psychopath. You need to start thinking clearly, we all do, because if we don’t he’s going to kill every single person in that building.”

 

…

 

-11 Hours Previously-

 

The scene outside QC HQ was haunting. Emergency and floodlights were the only source of light outside of QC HQ in the darkness of the night. The giant screen displayed a sight that Oliver never wanted to witness ever again. It was like déjà vu. Damian was holding a syringe to Felicity’s neck, eerily similar to that night with Count Vertigo, but this time he didn’t have his bow pointed at the man that wished to harm her. This time he couldn’t save her. This time he was forced to watch the scene unfold, and it was all his fault.

“Well hello there, Mr. Queen. So kind of you to join us for this demonstration,” crackled Damian’s voice through the screen.

“Now you know that I made you a deal about those bombs, Mr. Queen. Find one and I would stop all of them. Unfortunately you didn’t even find one. That was very troubling, Mr. Queen,” Damian’s voice becoming increasingly taunting and maniacal.

“Now you’re going to pay for that failure. Light them up, gentlemen!”

A giant fireball erupted near the docks at Starling City’s oldest ferry terminal building, a building that was under renovations. Renovations being paid for by the Queen family trust.   

“Oh dear, was that the ferry building that you were renovating, Mr. Queen? Such a pity considering it was a very beautiful building. But there goes bomb number two,” Damian laughed.

“Now, to the main part of tonight’s entertainment, Mr. Queen. I told you that if you failed to find the bombs in time that your little assistant here would be the recipient of my little concoction.”

Oliver couldn’t tear his gaze from the screen. He could see the fear in Felicity’s eyes, but he could also see the fight. She wasn’t going to give up, and neither was he.

“You will pay for your failures, Mr. Queen. She is just one of a long line of this,” growled Damian, moments before plunging the syringe into Felicity’s neck and dropping her onto the ground.

“OLIVER,” Felicity screamed. The pain she was in was evident on her face as tears began spilling down her face. Her scream was like a gut punch for Oliver. He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him as he watched the woman he loves suffer in excruciating pain because of him.

“I will kill you when I get my hands on you, you son of a bitch,” roared Oliver, his hands curling into fists, so tight that his nails drew blood from his palms.

“Tut, tut, Mr. Queen, your anger will not help you in this situation,” goaded Damian as he dragged Felicity closer to the camera. Her screams becoming louder the closer they got to the camera.

“You lost, Queen.”

Oliver didn’t hear Damian’s continued goading. His eyes were trained on Felicity and the pain that marred her face as she was dragged closer to the camera. He could see the light in her eyes fade the closer she got. The moment she lost consciousness is when Oliver finally lost it. He screams her name. His fists come into contact with the desk, throwing and smashing all the SCPD equipment on the table. Diggle and Roy have to physically restrain him from doing any more damage, all as Thea watches on in horror.

 

…

 

-10 Hours Previously-

 

Amber moves Felicity back to the spot beside Moira. She feels that she at least owes Felicity some kind of comfort after what Damian put her through.

“Is she alright,” asked Moira, the worry evident in her voice concerning Felicity.

“She’ll be okay. I think. I have no idea how much he dosed her with,” answered Amber, her remorse evident to Moira.

“When she wakes, try and alert me. I’ll try to get her more comfortable when she comes to,” whispered Amber.

“Amber,” snarled Damian, motioning her to join him.  

 

 …

 

-10 Hours Previously-

 

Isabel watched the interaction between Amber, Moira and the unconscious Felicity. She always thought that Amber was a liability, a blind spot to her brother, the weak link in her plan to takeover QC. It was becoming clear to her that this liability was something that they could not afford to take. Damian was becoming increasingly unhinged she noticed. The drugs were already disappearing from his system. They had 10 more hours to go and she needed him alert. He needed to be pulled back if her plan was to follow through. She needed to collar him. As one of her men passed by, she pretended to struggle in an attempt to get him closer to her without alerting any one to her true motives.

“Kill her,” Isabel whispered into the guard’s ear as he tightened her restraints, her eyes trained on Amber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I love to hear what you guys have to say about the story, good or bad, so comment away! :)


	8. Nothing Left

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments, the kudos, the views, the subscribers and the bookmarks! You guys are absolutely amazing! Thank you for being patient with me as well, I'm very, very grateful!
> 
> We are drawing closer to the end of the story, so I hope you enjoy the latest chapter in the story. 
> 
> As always I love to hear what you guys have to say, good or bad, so comment away!

 

* * *

 

 

-5 Hours Previously-  

 

Time had become irrelevant to Felicity as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

Her mind was still muddled by the onslaught of pain that continued to course through her body. Her movement now more restricted than before because of the continual pain produced by the cocktail. Her senses still extremely heightened. Her vision blurred by the loss of her glasses. Her body cold from the marble floors of QC HQ cafeteria. The jacket cushioning her head was the only source of comfort in the dire situation that they were in.

In her conscious moments she had been privy to a few whispered conversations  around her, one that surprised her most was the one that had occurred between Moira and the captor’s IT girl. Felicity had been surprised to learn that the girl that had been helping their captors with their tech cared about her wellbeing, more so than Isabel who completely dismissed her welfare which wasn’t surprising at all. At least she had been right when she guessed that the captor’s IT help was a girl, a relative win in a dire situation for her. If she could’ve she would’ve fist pumped, but the pain was too severe and her hands were tied behind her back. 

She had only caught snippets of their conversations before slipping back into unconsciousness.

Felicity didn’t drift back into consciousness this time, she was snapped back.

Confusion clouded her mind as she tried to piece together what was happening as she awoke suddenly. The cries that had awoken her now pierced her ears once again.

“No! No! NO! NO! NO! Stay with me! Stay with me, please! Please, please. You can’t do this to me! Please! I’m begging you please. I need you!”

Felicity could hear the hysteria and the desperation in the cries. The despondency in the voice was clear, the pain and the plea evident in his voice. She could only make out a vague outline of the man in which the cries were emanating from. But she knew, it was the lead captor, the guy she had nicknamed CKP1, Crazy Kidnapper Psychopath Number 1. He was rocking back and forth, desperately clinging to a body of a person she could not make out. She felt kind of sorry for him in that moment. For all that he had done to her, all he had done to her fellow employees, she never wished for anyone to be in the pain that now beset her captor even if he was a crazy murdering psychopath.

His cries became more and more hysterical by the second.

As abruptly as his cries had started, they had stopped. The entire cafeteria was engulfed in dead silence. Nobody dared move, not even the other captors. The room watched as CKP1 carefully placed the body that he had clung to, like it was his lifeline, to the ground and tenderly placed a kiss upon the body’s forehead, the act unbearably intimate.

The sudden change in CKP1’s demeanour was evident even without her glasses. One moment he was on the ground with the body, the next he was advancing upon her location with a gun in his hand. Felicity could see the despair and the fury that clouded CKP1’s eyes, but also the madness that she had yet to see in the lead captor. It frightened her. She had yet to see this side of CKP1 throughout all of their interactions since the takeover began. He had always had an air of confidence and control about him from the moment he stepped in front of her. But the man in front of her now had none of that, he looked lost, a man with nothing left but anger and pain.

What happened next astonished Felicity even more than the events that had unfolded over since the takeover began.

CKP1 aimed the gun not at her, nor at Moira who was beside her, but Isabel.

“WHAT. DID. YOU. DO. BEL?” bellowed a venomous CKP1, as he pressed the gun into Isabel’s forehead. His fury aimed solely on QC co-CEO and no one else.

While Felicity could barely tear her eyes away from the scene that was in front of her, her peripheral vision picked up on a blurry little red light on the camera that had been aimed at them that she had failed to notice before now.  

The light was blinking.

 

**…**

 

-9 Hours Previously-

 

It had taken both Diggle and Roy physically restraining Oliver to stop his path of destruction after watching Felicity blackout from the pain induced by Damian’s cocktail.

It had taken Thea an hour to break through to Oliver, calming him to a point where he was no longer punching the side of the mobile station.

Damian had taunted them once again before detonating another bomb, destroying a section of Starling City’s oldest park. They had not seen Felicity or Moira, the footage only showed continual sweeps of the other staff held hostage in the cafeteria. Oliver head dived into another violent frenzy, damaging a car parked outside the building. He once again had to be restrained by Diggle, before being shoved into the mobile station.   

“We’re going to figure something out, Oliver. We’re going to save them. We always do,” said Thea trying hard to remain calm as she cleaned and bandaged up her brother’s hands. Holding onto them as she spoke her next words.

“I know you’re angry. I know you’re sacred. I am too, Oliver. But you have to try and restrain yourself, at  least a little. Detective Lance has already threatened to have you removed from the scene if you have an outburst like that again. That’s not even counting the possibility that you might be arrested for the destruction of police property, Oliver,” admonished Thea.

“The number on the donation cheque that we are going to have to make to SCPD is going to be HUGE this year,” Thea tried to say jokingly, the humour non-existent in her voice. 

Oliver sat despondently with his hands still grasped within Thea’s. He no longer felt the need to move, nor think. The fight had left his body. His heart had stopped beating for a moment when the all the slight drained from Felicity’s eyes. All he saw was red after that. He wanted so badly to get his hands on Damian and strangle the life out of him. He may have made a vow not to kill, but in that moment he would have made an exception for him. He would’ve broken it for her. He had done it once already. He would’ve done anything to protect her, to keep her safe, to keep her happy.

Felicity was the exception. 

Everything that he had faced in his, every circumstance, every person, had always turned out in a manner he had expected, but not her. She was the exception. She was the total antithesis of his initial assessment of her. She may have been young, blonde and beautiful, but she was so much more than that. She was smart, smarter than anyone he had ever met. She was brave, putting herself in situations that could’ve have led to serious consequences for herself, but knowing that she could save others in the process if she tried. She was kind, her kindness knew no bounds; how else could he explain her willingness to help him on his possibly self-destructive crusade in the beginning. Others may have seen her naivety, her kindness, her appearance as weaknesses, but he knew better. She was stronger, stronger than anybody had ever given her credit for. She had the strength to guide him, to push him to be better, to do better, when no one else was willing to, when no one else could.

She was _his_ exception.

The epiphany stole his breath. He felt like he could no longer breathe, the truth suffocating his lungs. His heart began to pound beneath his chest.

“OLLIE,” screeched Thea, “Ollie, you need to see this!” Breaking Oliver out of his overpowering epiphany.

“The Sniffer picked up signals. The same signals that were emitting from the bomb that destabilized city hall. Sniffer found a way to track them, Oliver,” the excitement evident in Thea’s voice. They finally had a tangible lead in the chaos that had surrounded them.

“Even unconscious and tied up Felicity can still kickass and beat the bad guys,” sounded a slightly incredulous Thea.

“When this is all said and done, Ollie, I think you owe her an all-expense paid vacation and a raise,” Thea announced.

 “Oh, and a date too, of course,” teased Thea.

 

**…**

 

-7 Hours Previously-

 

Drops of sweat rolled off Oliver’s forehead and over his mask as he carefully lifted the shielding off the bomb while standing above it. They had discovered that the bombs required two man teams to disarm them, one to hold the shielding above the circuit and another to cut the wires.

Move the shielding away too far away from the bomb and it would detonate.

Cut the wrong wire and the bomb would detonate.

Emit a wrong frequency signal around it and the bomb would detonate.

Every step in disarming the bomb had to be smooth, quick and precise.

Each site had a total of four bombs, to ensure mass destruction. Some of the bombs were above ground; others had been located in the decommissioned underground subway lines like one that ran beneath Starling’s City Hall. The bombs had no timer. They had to be detonated through a signal that was being transmitted from Damian at QC HQ. Thea had tried to find a way to block the signal from emitting but to no avail. Another bomb had gone off before it was decided that they had to find the bombs and remotely disarm them.

SCPD teams were all over the city doing the same thing that Diggle and he were doing. The Arrow and SCPD had formed a lose agreement to divide up and disarm the remaining bombs. Oliver and Diggle had discovered the first of the remaining bombs. The four bombs were, thankfully, not underground but located all over the oldest branch of Starling National Bank.

Oliver knew that they couldn’t fail this time. They had to disarm all the other bombs before Damian set off another bomb, if not the destruction and casualties were sure to occur. With Diggle’s military training they were able to figure out a way to disarm the bombs without detonating them and alerted the other SCPD teams to do the same.  

Oliver and Diggle had already disarmed three of the four bombs in the building. They had been slower than the rest of the SCPD teams because it was only the two of them. Roy had stayed behind with Thea to monitor the situation and to protect her if anything happened while they were gone. 

Time was inching closer to the hour mark before Damian would set off another bomb. They had to move fast. They had no idea which bomb would be detonated next.

“Oliver, SCPD has disarmed all the remaining bombs in the other sites. Your site in the only one left, you and Diggle have got to move quickly, the hour is almost up,” spoke Roy, relaying the information that Thea had gained while monitoring the police radio. 

Oliver could finally breathe a sigh of relief as Diggle cut the remaining wire, disarming the last of Damian’s bombs.

“I told you we’d figure something out, Oliver,” sounded an equally relieved Diggle, leveling Oliver with a I-told-you-so-look that he had used numerous times before.

 

**…**

 

-6 Hours Previously-

 

Moira watched as the lead captor became enraged when he had discovered that the Arrow and the SCPD officers had disarmed his remaining bombs. At least one part of his plans had been unraveled. The feeling of hope began to steadily rise within her. Maybe they could come out of this unscathed, but she knew better than to hope for something that may be certainly out of reach. The amount that the lead hostage taker asked for was nearly impossible to gather in the time allotted. And time was running out.

Moira noticed that Felicity had begun to stir a little beside her. It was not the first time that she had begun to stir in the hours since the lead hostage taker had injected her with the cocktail, but this time she looked like she may open her eyes for the first time. She could not fathom the type of pain that Felicity had had to endure. Her screams were equally terrifying and painful to hear. Oliver’s scream was equally painful to hear.

“Felicity,” whispered Moira, “are you alright dear?”

Moira was met with no response from Felicity, which worried her immensely. While she knew that the young woman beside her was breathing that’s all she could discern of her condition.

It was then that the young woman who had moved Felicity back to her previous position came upon them and placed a folded up jacket underneath Felicity’s head. The other woman completed what looked to be a cursory check of Felicity’s condition before she began speaking.

“She’ll be alright Mrs. Queen. The cocktail seems to be wearing off, but she’s still in an incredible amount of pain. She’ll wake when her body’s ready,” spoke the other woman very quietly, as she kept looking over her shoulder towards the lead hostage-taker.

“Probably be better if she stayed asleep if I can say so myself. Her incessant babbling won’t get us killed,” replied Isabel snidely.    

“Thank you, Amber,” replied Moira, ignoring Isabel completely, and addressing the young woman by the name the lead hostage taker had called her.

Moira had noticed the intimacy between the young woman and the lead kidnapper, as well as the tension that existed between the two of them. While she had been privy to numerous relationships that had unfolded in front of her, this one seemed to be difficult to comprehend. Why would a young and intelligent woman attach herself to a crazed kidnapper and murderer? She had her theories, maybe she did it out of love or fear or blackmail or a combination of all three. But Moira knew that the situation that was now unfolding was not what the Amber wanted.

It was then that Moira noticed one of the other kidnappers approach Amber from behind, the same one that had circled their location numerous times over the last few hours. He placed a hand upon Amber’s shoulder before telling her to move away from the hostages.

 

**…**

 

-6 Hours Previously-

 

Amber watched as Damian became enraged as he found out that the SCPD and the Arrow had found and disarmed his remaining bombs. His behaviour was becoming more and more erratic by the hour. She did not understand why, but she knew that he was nearing his breaking point. She loved her husband with her whole heart, he was the only family she had left, but what he was doing for the money that they would receive was not something she could agree with. She could not agree with the cold-blooded murder that had occurred just hours ago. The change in her husband behaviour was becoming increasingly frightening.

She tried to calm him down, and he did to a certain degree before he stalked off towards one of his lieutenants.

She noticed that Felicity had begun to stir again. She felt incredibly guilty for what had happened to Felicity. She had no idea the type of effects the cocktail that Damian had injected her with would do.

Felicity’s screams would haunt her for a long time.

No one deserved that kind of pain, certainly not Felicity.

Isabel had been insistent that Felicity be included in the group of hostages with Moira Queen and herself, which puzzled her at the time. But now she understood why. Felicity Smoak wasn’t just Oliver Queen’s executive assistant, she was much more. So much more. Oliver Queen cared for Felicity, probably more than anyone gave him credit for. Oliver’s reaction to Damian injecting Felicity was clear, the fury and pain was evident in his screams. He sounded liked wounded animal. The guilt that she had been feeling was beginning to feel like it was strangling her.     

Amber grabbed her coat and folded it up as she walked towards where Felicity was being held. On her way she decided to turn the camera aimed at her on, maybe it would provide Oliver with some comfort, seeing her on screen, knowing that Felicity was alive and breathing. 

Her conversation with Moira had been brief and she tucked her jacket under Felicity’s head. In her cursory overview she noticed that Felicity was covered in goosebumps, sweat still covered her body and her breathing and heart beat were still erratic, but she was definitely getting better.

Amber didn’t notice the guard that came behind her, but she felt the slight shock when his hand landed on her shoulder.

 

…

 

Amber began to feel sick as the hour went by. Her head hurt, her muscles ached, exhaustion was beginning to set in, and her breathing was becoming uneven. She felt horrible. She had not felt this way since she had the flu a few years go. She also had no idea why she was feeling so sick.

As she walked towards Damian to tell him that she was feeling sick, she collapsed to the ground. She had no idea what was going on, one moment she felt fine and the next, nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

**…**

 

-5 Hours Previously-

 

Isabel watched as Amber collapsed on the ground. She didn’t think the poison would work through her system as quickly as she did, but it did.

Amber was finally out of the picture. Now, now she could take full control of her brother and bring about the actions that needed to happen so she could complete her takeover of Queen Consolidated. 

"AMBER!" 

Damian’s cries were what drew her out of her pensive state. His cries drew no sympathy out of her. Amber was weak and had to be dealt with is her takeover was to be achieved.

“No! No! NO! NO! NO! Stay with me! Stay with me, please! Please, please. You can’t do this to me! Please! I’m begging you please. I need you!”

Apparently her brother wasn’t taking the death of his wife and she thought he would if his incessant screaming was evident. The scene that unfolded in front of her was not surprising. It was his following actions that were. 

His next actions were definitely not what she was expecting.

“WHAT. DID. YOU. DO. BEL?” Damian screamed at her.

As he pressed his gun into her head she saw the anger, the pain, and the madness that had takeover her brother. She didn’t expect his cocktail to wear-off so quickly. She had begun to question her orders to have Amber killed. 

Her next actions and words had to be carefully chosen if she was to maintain the ruse and ensure that her takeover would be achieved.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” replied Isabel, trying to sound as empathetic as she could.

“Cut the bullshit, Bel! I know you did this! I know that you hated her! I KNOW YOU KILLED HER!”

His screams made her flinch.

Isabel had never seen her brother this angry and uncontrolled before. She had seen him in his most violent fits but never to the point where her control over him was futile.  

“You took her from me! You took the only person I ever truly loved! I HAVE NOTHING LEFT!”

That was the last thing Isabel heard before she slipped into unconsciousness. 


	9. Stop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much! The story has surpassed over 5700+ views, which is seriously amazing and mind-blowing! Thank you all for your continued support, the kudos, the subscriptions, the bookmarks, and the comments. It really does mean a lot to me! 
> 
> We are inching ever closer to the end of the story, only 2 more chapters to go! 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much fun as I had writing it!

* * *

 

 

-3 Hours Previously-

 

“Do you want me to stop, Isabel? Do you want me to stop the pain, Isabel? All you have to do is say STOP, BEL,” spit out Damian, venom and menace laced through his words as he stood over Isabel with a gun pointed towards her head, his hand trembling. 

 

Five members of Damian’s assault team lay dead on the ground. Another ten sat strategically surrounding the rest of the hostages. All of whom had their hands bound behind their backs and bombs strapped to their bodies. The rest of Damian’s assault team stood like silent sentries around the room, their faces free of all emotion.

 

The fear and tension that rippled through the room was palpable even to those outside of the building. The silence that clung to the room was deafening for all those watching on their screens.  All bore witness to the madness that had engulfed Damian since Amber’s death. Madness that terrified not only those trapped within the confines of the QC HQ cafeteria but those outside its doors and all those watching on screens across Starling City. All watching Damian, all dreading what he was going to do next.

 

Oliver was no exception.

 

He hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. His body ran on nothing but pure adrenaline and fear. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. Fear engulfed every beat of his heart. He watched as Damian spiraled out of control. He watched as Damian murdered five of his men. He watched as bombs were strapped to others, turning them into unwilling suicide bombers. He watched as this man, a man who had been manipulated by Isabel, turn so dangerously against her. Damian’s behaviour likened him to a caged animal that had stolen his freedom from his master. A master now lying on the ground with blood running down the sides of her face and a gun pointed to her head.

 

The grief that Damian succumbed from losing to the love of his life terrified Oliver. He hoped that, that same fate would not befall him today. He watched as Damian surrendered to the madness of his mind and let go of all ties to reality. He saw the beast within Damian’s eyes, a beast that he himself had fought hard to bury, a beast driven by pure bloodlust and vengeance. The same beast that he began to tame when he met a blonde-haired, blue eyed, bright lipped, IT girl, who shattered all of every one of his rules and expectations. Damian no longer wanted the money. He no longer wanted to make Queen Consolidated pay for their environmental sins. He no longer cared about anything but revenge. Revenge against the person who had stolen his other half, he wanted revenge against Isabel. And Oliver could do nothing to stop it.

 

The powerlessness that Oliver felt was devastating. He hated feeling this way. He hadn’t felt this powerless since he first drifted onto Lian Yu all those years ago. His world had spun out of control and he had no way of stopping it. He stood in front of the screen and watched, hoped, prayed that Damian would come to his senses and release the hostages. He wished all the madness could just stop. He wished the world would stop spinning out of control. He wished that Isabel had never walked into their lives. He wished that Starling, a city he loved, could stop being the centre of chaos, chaos brought to it because of his family. He wished that he could assure his sister that everything would be okay. He wished he could be a better son and CEO for his mother. But above all else, he wished he could just hold Felicity in his arms and never let go. 

 

**…**

 

-5 Hours Previously-

 

Felicity watched, petrified, as CKP1 smashed his gun against Isabel’s head, rendering her unconscious. She watched as he reverently moved Amber’s body and placed a sheet atop it. She watched as this man, a man she had witnessed kill a man in cold blood hours ago display more emotion and empathy towards a cold dead body than she had ever witnessed before. She watched all resemblance of warmth drain from his eyes, replaced with a cold, dead stare as he stood. His face stricken with dried tears. Felicity was terrified by this man and his next course of action.

 

As scared as she was, Felicity could feel the sadness emanating from CKP1 as he moved away from the dead body. She could not stem the tears that began to flow, tears for a woman that had offered her kindness in a situation that held none. Felicity could not believe that this was her reality. She had witnessed brutality and darkness before, but nothing like this. Nothing like the atmosphere that now surrounded the cafeteria. She had witnessed two murders today, both lives unnecessarily taken away for reasons that she could not fathom.

 

Felicity glanced over at Isabel, who remained unconscious. She had no idea as to why Isabel would want to murder Amber. She had no idea as to Isabel’s connection to CKP1 and the situation that they were all in now. Hundreds of possibilities streamed through her mind, every one making as little sense as the one before it. Felicity felt suffocated by the onslaught of scenarios running through her mind. Her body was still recovering from the effects of the pain cocktail and trying to push her mind to maximum capability was physically draining. The added emotional toil of what she had witnessed did little to help the matter.

 

“Are you alright,” whispered Moira, concern evident in her voice and her question.  

 

“I’m alright, Mrs. Queen,” answered Felicity, “I’m just…I’m still dizzy.” Her body swayed as she tried to sit up and continue to answer Moira’s questions.  

 

“My body still hurts when I try to move too much.”

 

Moira was about to question Felicity again when she was silence by shouting. The angry cries of CKP1 echoed across the cafeteria.

 

CKP1 screamed at another man who looked as equally terrified as every hostage in the room. The other man tried desperately to diffuse the argument that had erupted between them. He kept repeating that she wouldn’t want him to do anything irrational in a moment like this.

 

“DO YOU THINK I CARE,” screamed CKP1 that the entire cafeteria heard.

 

“I DON’T CARE ANYMORE! I WANT THEM TO PAY! I WANT THEM TO PAY! NOW!” continued CKP1.

 

What happened next rocked the entire room.

 

CKP1 fired multiple close-range shots at the other man’s head, instantly killing him.

 

Screams erupted from the other hostages.

 

Felicity sat stunned. Silenced by what she had just witnessed, her third murder in less than 24 hours.

 

CKP1 moved towards the crowd of hostages, screaming at them to shut up. He waved his gun at the crowd, telling them if they screamed anymore he would put bullets into them as well.

 

The room feel into a deadly silence.

 

CPK1 swivelled towards where Felicity, Moira and Isabel were being kept. He stormed towards them, aggression rolling off his body.

 

Felicity felt like she should move back, move away from the cold-blooded killer that was charging at her but her body wouldn’t allow for it. She was frozen, frozen in fear and frozen because of pain. She could see the blood spatter that marred his face as he came face to face with her.

 

“Come on, Ms. Smoak. We’re going to have a little fun and game,” sounded CKP1 as he grabbed her by the arm and forced her to stand. The anger and lunacy clear in his voice.

 

Felicity screamed as she was dragged towards a group of guards standing near the hostages.

 

“If you would be so kind, Ms. Smoak, please point out which one of these guards was the one that approached Amber when she was last with you,” ordered CKP1, his tone terrifyingly menacing, swinging her around so she could see a number of the guards’ faces.

 

“I…I…I don’t know,” cried Felicity, her voiced teemed of tears and pain after being dragged and swung around like a rag-doll. “I didn’t see his face clearly.”

 

“You didn’t see his face clearly,” bellowed CKP1, “you’ve had to have seen his face! He was right behind Amber!”

 

“Was it this one,” asked CKPK, jerking his head towards a guard.

 

“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know,” cried Felicity, fear swamping her voice, as she cringed away from CKP1.

 

CKP1 growled, utterly disgusted with the situation, before firing at the guard he had previously pointed to, killing him instantly.

 

Felicity screamed.

 

“Was it this one,” howled CKP1 while pointing to another guard.

 

“Please! Please! I don’t remember his face. I barely saw his face. My mind was still jumbled after drifting into consciousness. Please, I don’t remember! Please don’t kill him,” pleaded Felicity.

 

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as CKP1 fired his gun again, killing another guard.

 

Felicity was racked with terror and tears. Fear for herself and for the guards around her. She had no idea which guard was the one that had approached Amber. She felt the blood of the murdered guards on her hands. Her heart began beating more erratically. The rushing of blood was all she could hear. She felt like she was going to faint.

 

The anger and tension ebbing off CKP1 was palpable.

 

“Well you’re of no use then, Ms. Smoak,” spoke CKP1 hauntingly, moving the gun towards her head.

 

“STOP,” screamed Oliver, his voice travelling across the radio for all to hear.  

 

**…**

 

-4 Hours Previously-

 

The word escaped from him before his mind could fully rationalize it. It was pure instinct. He had sensed it the moment he met her in her colourful cubicle in QC. He had to protect her. It wasn’t based on some sexist stereotype or some deluded sense of responsibility. It was based on pure need. He needed Felicity. He needed her alive, safe, and happy. He needed her beside him because he didn’t think that he could continue on without her by his side, guiding him, supporting him when no one else would. She was his tether, grounding him in the chaos that was his life. He didn’t think, couldn’t think about living a life without her in it. It’s why he didn’t think before the word spilled from his mouth because it was a basic primal instinct. Protecting her was a survival instinct. He needed her to survive because he didn’t think he could survive without her.

 

“Please, don’t kill her. Please,” the plea in Oliver’s voice was clear, “I’ll give you anything you want. Anything! Just please, please don’t kill her!”

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Queen beg before, Mr. Queen. It’s quite astonishingly actually,” replied a surprised Damian, “but the thing is Mr. Queen I don’t want anything from you anymore!”

 

Damian’s eerie laughter echoed across the radio.

 

“I really don’t want anything anymore, Mr. Queen. You can keep your money. You can continue making your tech. You can keep it all because I don’t want it anymore! I don’t care anymore,” Damian replied coldly and despondently, his head shaking.

 

“I won’t kill, Ms. Smoak. At least not right now,” Damian spoke as he dragged his gun down the side of Felicity’s face, “I may need her skills when the time comes.”

 

Oliver watched as Damian hauled Felicity back to the spot beside his mother. Tears streaming down her face, the pain that she was in evident on her face. He watched, his heart in pain, wishing that he could take it all away. He ached to take it all away. His nails dug into the palms of his hands so hard that they drew blood, his vain attempt to steady himself in the moment.

 

 

Oliver watched as Damian walked towards another group of his men before unloading the rest his magazine into the heads’ of another two guards and throwing his gun to the ground.

 

Damian’s next course of action stunned and horrified Oliver.

 

“You see, Mr. Queen, I’ve always been a man with a plan and a backup plan for that plan. I always have a contingency plan and this is it,” gesturing at his wrist, “you see this here. This is a master dead man’s switch. I’m the one that gets to decide when this ends. I can press this little button here and blow QC into kingdom come and no one can stop me,” Damian spoke, his voice filled with mad delight.

 

“Now I have some business that I need to finish up, so I’m going to end our little conversation here. I will now cease communication between yourself and I. Oh, and the SCPD of course. Goodbye, Mr. Queen.”

 

Damian’s laughter echoed in Oliver’s ear as the radio crackled before silencing for the final time.

 

**…**

 

Thea had seen many sides of her brother since he had returned home from the island, especially over the last 24 hours, but never like this. Never this defeated. Never this hollow.

 

When she had learned about her brother’s alter ego as the Arrow and Roy’s position on his team she was furious. She had been lied to once again by the people she cared about the most, and who were supposed to care about her the most. She was angry, really angry and hurt. It wasn’t until Felicity had stepped in and talked to her about Oliver and Roy that she began to understand the cost and the burden that came with being the Arrow and being on the team. She was grateful for Felicity’s advice, her support and her willingness to lend an ear when she finally vented all the feelings that she had buried because of Oliver and Roy’s betrayal. Her friendship had been invaluable during the initial period after her discovery of her brother’s nighttime activities. Her honesty was even more refreshing. Having lived in a world that had been based on lies and falsity, she was glad that she had one person that she could trust. It was one of the many reasons she had been pushing Oliver towards a less platonic relationship with his IT girl.

 

Sitting in the van and watching Oliver look so dejected and helpless broke her heart. Thea hadn’t realized, truly realized, what Felicity meant to Oliver until he screamed ‘stop’. The emotions that streamed past her brother’s face as he pleaded for Felicity’s life was another side to her brother that she had rarely, if ever, seen in all her life. The man sitting before her, her brother, a man she had always seen as strong and resilient, looked like a shell of himself. Oliver had finally begun to open up since returning home, and she knew it was in no small part because of Felicity. Felicity had been the person that Oliver had let in, had been the one he opened himself up to, and could be his true self around. Felicity accepted Oliver, scars and all. And for that she was grateful.

 

Thea had witnessed, time and time again, the unconscious connection between Oliver and Felicity, their overprotective nature of one another, the touches, the glances, and the many unspoken conversations between the two of them. The two, while complete opposites of one another, had connected with one another in a way that was only described in loves poems and Austen novels.

 

She now understood why her brother looked like a shell of himself, because he was. He was a shell because his centre was being held hostage with little chance of escape. His centre was facing a fiery death and he had no way to stop it. Felicity was Oliver’s _centre_. She was the person that kept him going when the world darkened, the one to push him when he faltered, to guide him when required, and caught him when he fell. Oliver needed Felicity like he needed oxygen to breathe. Thea didn’t think that Oliver could survive without Felicity. And that scared her more than the madman with a bomb and a vendetta to fulfill.

 

**…**

 

Oliver was affixed to the same spot, barely breathing, eyes unblinking, as he watched members of Damian’s guards being unwilling strapped with suicide bombers’ vests. He could not have imagined the events that were playing out on screen to occur nearly 24 hours ago when he left for lunch with his sister.

 

Thea and Roy had tried, but failed to find any connection between Isabel and Damian. All possible rescue plans they had come up with to enter QC and rescue the hostages were now dashed as another guard was strapped with a bomber vest. By the end, ten guards had been turned into possible suicide bombers, all of whom were now as captive as their previous hostages.

 

Damian had removed all possible points of communication, effectively cutting himself off from the world, except the cameras which continued to broadcast. The events that were playing out inside QC HQ provided Starling with a show that no one wanted watch, but couldn’t tear their eyes away from.

 

The sun had fully risen but the entire city was eerily quiet, a calm before the storm. The Mayor had ordered a full lockdown of the city, ordering all citizens to remain in their homes until the situation had been resolved.  

 

The SCPD and other emergency responders were now scrambling, trying to figure out a way to diffuse the situation. No one was expecting QC HQ to be turned into a giant bomb with a madman with a kill switch at its control.

 

Oliver could barely contain the emotions that were streaming through him as he watched the suicide bombers forced next to the hostages. The feeling of fear and panic clawed at every fibre of his being. He desperately wanted to stop Damian, but with no information, no plan, no strategy, he felt helpless. He felt useless. Oliver’s position as QC CEO was a card he could no longer play. Damian didn’t want his money or the disruption of his company. What Damian wanted was nothing Oliver could provide.

 

Every thug he had faced, every mission he had taken on, every step he had taken as the Arrow since returning home from the island had, had one constant, _Felicity_. She had been by his side, never wavering, supporting him when no one else could or would, always pushing him to be better, to do better. She was his partner and he needed her now more than ever. Oliver didn’t think he had ever felt this lost and desperate than at that exact right moment.

 

**…**

 

-3 Hours Previously-

 

He paced the floor around Isabel, waiting for her to wake up. He knew he shouldn’t have hit her as hard as he had but he had lost control. Just for a moment. He could no longer feel that AC against his skin. His hands began trembling. His legs began to quake ever so slightly. The drug had worn off. He could no longer feel. His sense of touch disappeared. He needed Isabel to wake up.

 

Then it came to him. Isabel had to wake up and feel the pain that he felt. He had just the thing to do it.

 

It was the last supply of his drug that he had with him. He knew that he should use it on himself, stop his body from returning to its natural state but he couldn’t. He needed his sister to feel what he felt on the inside, the pain of having his heart ripped from him.

 

He could see the fear in the eyes of Moira Queen and Felicity Smoak. It no longer gave him a thrill though. He knew what they were thinking about, what he was going to do next. That was probably what every person in the room, probably everyone watching was thinking about too.

 

No one knew about the dead man’s switch, not even Isabel. He always had a backup plan and that was it. The one thing that he had learnt from his father was that control had to be absolute, and to have absolute control meant having to use force. And what was more forceful than death by bombs. He had been frustrated when the Arrow and the SCPD had deactivated the bombs around the city, but they were a loss he was willing to accept. With a press of a button he could take down QC HQ and bury everyone in it. That was his control.

 

The takeover was supposed to be simple. Isabel had a goal and he had a goal. Isabel was going to get control of QC and he would get the funds and the formula for the drug. He knew why Isabel wanted QC. Why she so desperately wanted the Queens to pay. She had been wronged by Robert Queen. He had abandoned her for his family and broken his promise to her, and she wanted his family to pay. And now she needed to pay for what she had done to him. She had broken her promise to him and taken the one thing he needed most in the world.

 

Isabel awoke moments after being injected with the drug. Screaming.

 

“So glad you could join us, Bel,” said Damian, delight evident in his voice.

 

“What did you do,” screamed Isabel, her façade completely disappearing.

 

“I did what I had to do, dear sister. I did what father always told us to do. I’m taking control.”

 

“You? Taking control?” The contempt and indignation crystal clear in Isabel’s voice, even as tears spilled from her eyes and face contorted in pain.

 

“You didn’t think I had it in me? Well there’s a lot you don’t know about me, Bel,” his anger rising as he spit the words at his sister.

 

“You’ve never had anything in you, Damian. You were always the weakling, the runt. It’s why father always picked on you. He thought he could make you stronger,” spit Isabel.

 

Damian didn’t feel the pain that radiated through his hand as he hit Isabel in the head with the gun. But he could hear her pain as she howled, crumpling to the ground.

 

“Do you want me to stop, Isabel? Do you want me to stop the pain, Isabel? All you have to do is say stop, BEL,” screamed Damian.

 

Isabel laughed in his face.

 

“What pain, Damian? You think injecting me with your drug is going to be enough to make me crumble! Make me beg! I’ve dealt with more pain than you could ever comprehend!”

 

“You’ve haven’t felt real pain, Isabel. You’ve always been given everything. Father loved you, he gave you everything! You’ve never felt pain like I have! All you’ve ever felt is having you heart broken by a man that was never yours. You should’ve realized that Robert Queen was never going to leave his family for you,” Damian responded.

 

“I’ve only had one good thing in my life, Isabel. And that was Amber. She was my everything, my world. And you took her away from me. You ripped my heart from me, Isabel. You're going to pay for that,” Damian screamed, his pain heartbreakingly evident. “You’re worse than father ever was to me, Bel.”

 

Isabel began laughing hysterically.

 

“Amber? Oh, Amber. Amber was a nobody. Not even dear Ms. Smoak could recognize her. And she was Amber’s RA for two years at MIT. She was weak. She had no place in this plan, but you brought her with you, just like a child and his favourite blanket. The two of you really deserved each other, brother. Two weaklings bonded together over something as stupid as love,” sneered Isabel.

 

“You will not talk about her in that way,” bellowed Damian, making Isabel flinch.

 

“Do you know what father thought when he had learnt about the two of you,” taunted Isabel, “he said he couldn’t imagine two people more suited for each other. Two people so weak, so needy, so desperate for love…”

 

Damian didn’t think, didn’t feel, as he pulled the trigger. All he wanted was for Isabel to shut up. All he wanted was for her to stop degrading Amber. All he wanted was for it all to stop.   

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always love hearing what you guys have to say, good or bad, so comment away! :)


	10. Choices and Resolutions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter you have all been waiting for, the penultimate chapter. 
> 
> Thank you all for the continued comments, kudos, subscriptions and bookmarks. You are all amazing and I can't thank you all enough! 
> 
> Only one more chapter to go! 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I had fun writing it! :)

 

* * *

 

-Present-

 

Black smoke billowed around Oliver, enveloping him in a murky cocoon. His breathing became shallow, his mind was hazed, his vision blurred.

 

He grasped at the walls, stumbling. Trying to desperately move his legs, which became heavier and heavier with every step he took. He had to keep moving. He needed to get out. He needed to keep breathing.

 

Exhaustion and pain plagued every fibre of his body. He felt his body begin shut down. He could not succumb to it. He could not surrender. Not now. He had to fight it. He needed to breathe. He needed to keep moving. He had to see her. He had to see her face. He was not ready. He was not ready to let her go. Not now, not ever.

 

He forced one leg in front of the other, ignoring the warning bells in his head telling him to stop, even as the smoke invaded every inch of his lungs.

 

His knees gave out. His mind not registering the pain that radiated through his face where it had met the concrete. He warred against his body, trying to fight the temptress of sleep.

 

His eye lids flickered.

 

Death was knocking once again.  

 

Oliver was not unaccustomed to death. He understood death better than most. He had faced it. He had purveyed it. He understood what death accompanied, the darkness, the self-loathing, the burden, the guilt, the sorrow. Death takes. Death does not give. Death had stolen pieces of his soul, of his humanity, bit by bit until he thought that he had nothing left.

 

But he was wrong.

 

His soul, his humanity, had remained intact. It had just been buried, so deep within the recesses of himself that he had lost sight of them.

 

She had shown him the way back to it. She had shown him how to feel again, how to listen and open his eyes to the world around him. She showed him how to let someone in.  

 

She was the key, _his key,_ to unlocking everything that he had buried. She was the key to his soul and his heart.

 

Oliver had witnessed many things in his five years he spent away from home. Things he couldn’t explain, things he could’ve never imagined, and things he wished he could erase from his mind. He had suffered, he had scarred, and he had been broken in those five years. Those experiences made him the man he was today. And for that he could not fault them. They had brought him to the one person who showed him that none of those things mattered, not really. The only thing that mattered was the choices that he made today. The man he chose to be today. His past may haunt him, but they didn’t have power and control over him, not unless he let it.

 

As he stood, facing Death’s door once more, he came to the realization that he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready for death. He knew that he was already living on borrowed time. But he just needed more, just a little more time. He craved so desperately to see her face, her smile, to hear her laugh, to hear her ramble, to see the sparkle in her eyes one more time.

 

This was not the resolution he imagined when this all began more than 24 hours ago. This was not how he thought the story would end.

 

He wished he could hear his name upon her lips just once more.

 

**…**

 

-3 Hours Previously-

 

The recoil from the gun vibrated through his hand. His eyes registered the bullet hitting its intended target. A surge of adrenalin coursed through his body, electrifying all of his senses.  

 

The room was silent once again.

 

Damian basked in the silence, the stillness, which now enveloped the room, and more importantly his mind. A sense of calm washed over him, a feeling that he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

 

For a moment he forgot where he was, what he was doing, what he had done. He let his mind wander. He thought about her. He thought about her smile, her laughter. He thought about her quick mind and comforting touch. He thought about all the times he had with her and all the plans they had made. He thought of his adoration and devotion towards her. He thought about how it felt to love her and to be loved by her.

 

He could not stop the tears from streaming down his face once again. The overwhelming sense of guilt, of loss, of emptiness, of desperation invaded his mind and body. And like that, the silence, the stillness, the thoughts about her bright and alive evaporated as quickly as they came. The overwhelming reality of the situation assaulted his mind as the watched the blood flow around his feet.

 

The impact of the bullet tore through her heart the moment it entered. He watched the blood flow from the gapping cavity in her chest.

 

Isabel lay dead on the ground.

 

Silenced forever.

 

For so long he had lived in her shadow, under her thumb, allowed her to pull the wool over his eyes. She was so much like their father. Power and control were the ultimate goals in life. Nothing else mattered. Cruelty and duplicity were tools to attain such goals and did nothing to damage one’s mortality. Isabel had wandered away from the path their father had set, only to have her heart broken in the process. Her misfortune became her confirmation of the supposed truths and lessons that their father had instilled in her. Power and control reign supreme and infinite in the world. Love was a folly, a weakness, and hindered one’s path towards power and control.

 

He never believed those supposed truths and lessons his father constantly spewed. He knew better. His mother had taught him power of love and all that it could hold. He missed his mother. He remembered her face so clearly, forever ingrained in his memory. He missed her warmth. His father had come for him in the middle of the night. He remembered her screams, her pleas, her tears, begging his father to allow her to keep her son. His father had always been cruel, none crueler than that cold moonless night when he had taken him away from her. His father had ripped out a piece of his heart that night and completely tore out his mother’s. That was the last time he ever saw his mother. He was eight years old.

 

The void that was left within him from the loss of his mother had been devastating. For months he had remained silent, both afraid and defiant of his father. He remembered the repeated beatings after his father had found out about his inability to feel. He remembered his father’s constants taunts and comparisons to Isabel. His father’s ability to inflict cruelty to all those around him was a talent unique to him. Isabel inherited their father’s talent, though hers was more duplicitous than cruel.

 

His ability, or his inability to feel, was cherished by his mother. He remembered, night after night, her telling him that it meant that when he felt it was something truly powerful and life-changing. He felt, truly felt for the first time, the moment he met Amber. His world changed in those moments of their first meeting. He was never the same. He felt the power of love, true love. Amber emitted love, and light, and warmth. She had surrounded him in it. And he had been grateful for it, and for her.

 

The sob that tore through him hurt, physically, emotionally, mentally, and was astonishing and devastating all at once. In a mere 24 hours, his entire world had come apart and lay shattered on the ground. Everything he cherished, everything he understood, everything he loved was gone, broken, and dead. He had nothing to live for. He had nothing left.

 

As he stared that gapping cavity that now resided in his sister’s chest, a cavity that continued to spill blood, a cavity he created, he couldn’t help but feel the same void in his chest. His heart was gone.

 

His choice was made.

 

This had to end.

 

His madness needed a resolution.

**…**

 

-3 Hours Previously-

 

The single gunshot echoed through the cafeteria. And for a single moment, all the occupants in the QC HQ cafeteria were stunned into silence. The silence was as deafening as screams.

 

Felicity watched as the blood spilled from Isabel’s chest as she crumbled to the ground. Her own screams trapped within her throat, frozen by sheer shock and fear.

 

The same look of shock and fear graced Moria’s features.

 

Instinctively, Felicity reached for Isabel, wanting to help her. It was in Felicity’s nature to help those around her, no matter what they had done or how callous they were to the people around them.

 

It was CKP1 cold voice that halted her movements.

 

“Leave her! She’s good as gone,” sounded CKP1, his voice completely hollow.

 

“We can save her. You just need to get her to the paramedics,” pleaded Felicity.

 

“She’s dead, Ms. Smoak. She deserves death, more than anyone else in this room. It’s the only place that she will ever find true peace. You may not understand now, but you will,” said CKP1. He lowered himself to her eye level, tucking a piece of her hair, loose from her ponytail, behind her ear.

 

Felicity flinched under his touch and scrutinizing gaze.

 

“You see, Bel deserves death. Bel deserved to die her, in this building, in this company that she so desperately wanted to control. It’s quite serendipitous actually. Robert Queen made her promises, promises that he could never truly fulfill. He promised her a percentage of this company and a position within it. But more importantly, he promised to leave his family for her, a promise that he could never truly fulfill. He may have had a wandering eye and a penchant for extra marital affairs, but he loved his family dearly. He loved his wife. He loved his children. To him, they were his ultimate, a place that he would always return because they were his home. Isabel never had that. Our father never offered us a home or a family. He offered us a goal, a goal that she desperately wanted to fulfill. And she was on the cusp of attaining that goal until Oliver Queen decided to step up to the bat, brining you along with him, which really didn’t help the situation.”

 

Felicity trembled as CKP1 continuously stroked the side of his gun against her head.

 

“God, she really hated you, Ms. Smoak. You got in her way. Without even trying might I say. A feat in itself is. It’s why you’re sitting here right at this moment. It’s why you were injected with the pain cocktail. You see, Isabel orchestrated this entire takeover, with my help of course. What better way than to force Oliver and QC board to hand over the reins of this company to her than by showing the world of his incompetence. Unfortunately for Isabel, anything important rarely ever goes her way,” laughed CKP1, mad delight filtering through his voice.

 

“No one deserves to die the way she did,” replied Felicity, her voice trembling but her words so clear, so steady. “Not even her. Everyone deserves a chance to change, to repent, to choose. No one deserves to have their life taken away without an absolute reason for it.”

 

A small, near undetectable, smile crossed CKP1’s face.

 

“Isabel did. She was never going to attain what she was truly looking for. No matter how many bodies or broken companies lay in her wake, she would strive toward her goals. Our father told her that power and control were the ultimate but she had a taste of the ultimate. She had a taste of love. And that was what she was searching for. What she so desperately sought. She was searching for someone to love her. And she was never going to find it. Not on this earth at least.”

 

CKP1 sighed and smiled at Felicity again.

 

“I can see that you don’t believe, Ms. Smoak. You believe in the best of us, the good in all of us. You see the light in all of us. It’s in your nature to believe, to discover, to help. I can see it in your eyes. Even in her cruelty and hearing the revelations about her, you still feel sorry for what happened to Isabel.”

 

CKP1 chuckled. “I didn’t know kindness and justice were courses offered at MIT,” drifted CKP1’s voice as his gaze became distant.

 

“They aren’t. They are part and parcel of being a human. The world can be a cruel and brutal place, but only if we allow it to. We have the power to change that. We have the power to find another way. It is our choices that determine our fates and the fates of those around us. You can do the same. You can choose to end this, right now, and let us all go,” spoke Felicity. The plea could be hear in the undercurrent of her voice.

 

“That, unfortunately Ms. Smoak, is not the resolution that I had in mind. But don’t worry. Everything that is about to occur is of my own volition. I’ve made my choices. And I will lay with them,” spoke Damian solemnly, stroking Felicity’s hair for a last time.

 

**…**

 

-2 Hours Previously-

 

Oliver stood silent in the square, watching the events unfold onscreen, trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

 

Isabel had an affair with his father.

 

Isabel had orchestrated the takeover.

 

Isabel was dead.

 

His mother was still a hostage.

 

Felicity was still a hostage.

 

Damian wasn’t going to let them go. Not willingly at least.

 

Oliver continued to watch as Damian paced around Felicity and Moira, who seemed to have become ignorant of Isabel’s dead body on the ground. The revulsion, the spike fear and panic that ran through his body, when Damian had encroached on Felicity’s personal space, continued to flow.

 

They needed a plan. Now more than ever, to get into the building, disarm the bombs and rescue the hostages. He needed to get Felicity away from Damian soon. Damian’s interest in Felicity had only grown as the hours bled into one another since the takeover began. The feeling of uneasiness that emanated from such interest did little to calm Oliver’s nerves or his heart.

 

While Oliver had been taken aback by the information Damian relayed, it was Thea who was the most bewildered of them all.

 

“Thea,” said Oliver, trying to gage his sister’s reaction to the news they had all just heard.

 

“Dad had an affair! Dad had an affair with Isabel. Dad promised to leave us for Isabel,” spoke Thea, her voice sounding so young and incredulous to what she had just heard. Tears formed in her eyes, as her head shook back and forth trying to dispel what she had just heard.  

 

“Why would Dad promise her all those things, Oliver? Why?! I don’t understand!”

 

Oliver watched his sister try to process the information that she had been, knowing that he would be the only to get through to her in this state.

 

“Thea, listen to me,” Oliver articulated slowly as he took into his arms. “Dad loved us! Dad loved mom! Whatever he promised Isabel, he was never going to go through with it. He never did! He was with us to the very end, Thea. He was with me till the very end. Our father made mistakes. We all make mistakes, that what’s makes us human. But he loved us! He sacrificed so much for us.” He sacrificed so much for me thought Oliver, while hugging Thea.

 

“Dad loved us. That is the one thing, the only thing that you need to understand. Okay?”

 

Thea’s tears began soaking through his dress shirt as she nodded her head vigorously against his chest.

 

“Okay,” said Oliver, as he continued to comfort his sister. “John we need to find a way to get into that building. Now! Damian’s isn’t going to release the hostages voluntarily. We have no idea what he’s got planned next. We need a way to stop him!”

 

“I might have a way,” spoke Roy, as he poked his head to the side of the van.

 

**…**

 

-1 Hour Previously-

 

Oliver could barely keep his steps steady as his legs ached to match the pounding beats of his heart. He needed to be fast but stealth. He had rarely dressed as the Arrow in the daylight, especially in such close proximity to the SCPD, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And he was becoming more and more desperate by the minute.

 

Damian’s behaviour had become increasingly erratic as the original deadline was neared. No one had any clue as to what he would do next. He could easily set off the bombs and kill all the hostages. He could take them out one by one. He could use the suicide bombers. Damian could choose a hundred different methods to massacre the hostages, and none of them had any inkling as to which he would choose.

 

He needed to get inside the building.

 

He needed to stop Damian.

 

He needed Felicity. Safe and sound and miles away from the madman that had lost everything in the last 24 hours.

 

It was a lucky break that Roy, with the help of Felicity’s Sniffer, was able to find a sealed entrance into QC HQ. The entrance had been built when the building was constructed to allow for easier access for construction workers to move about the building, which had not been subsequently included in blueprint reproductions.  

 

“I’m at the entrance,” expressed Oliver over the comms, staring at a small, indistinguishable rusty door located on the far side of the first floor of the underground structure. “You were right, John. The entrance is sealed, but I can get through it,” said Oliver before firing off three consecutive trick explosive arrows at the door.

 

The sounds of the successive explosions through the comms created horrifying static causing Thea to shriek Oliver’s name.

 

“I’m okay, Thea,” Oliver carefully articulated, trying to calm his sister, “I’m through to the other side.”

 

The team had spent nearly an hour coming up with a plausible exit strategy that did not involve everyone getting blown up in the process. The best they could come up with a modified EMP device that had been previously rigged for another mission. The devices would fry the circuits of the bombs and render them harmless, thus allowing the SCPD tactical team to storm the building and help rescue the hostages. The problem was that they had only five of these devices, each with only a single charge. Each device could be used once and only once. This meant that it would be Oliver, and Oliver alone, that would enter QC, with no immediate backup. The risk was extremely high. But the cost would be even higher.

 

The plan did not sit well with anyone, Thea especially. Everyone understood the costs if Oliver didn’t breach the building and defuse the situation, but it didn’t make anyone feel any better. Their plan was not fool-proof, but they had no other options left.

 

This was their Hail Mary pass. If they failed, the consequences would be devastating to them all.

 

The cost to Oliver was incalculable.

 

Losing her would not just devastate him. It would obliterate him. It would destroy all that was good that was left in him. The loss of her would eviscerate his soul. She had breached all of his defenses. All the walls he had put up to shield himself from the world, crumbled at her feet. She provided him strength when he had none left. She believed in him when no one else would. She called him on his bullshit when everyone else was afraid to. She pushed him when no one else could. She gave him hope when all was lost. She centered him when the world spiralled out of control. She challenged, frustrated, and loved him like no one else ever had. He could not lose her. Not now. Not ever. Not when he had finally understood what she meant to him. Not when he was finally able to admit that he was in love with Felicity Smoak.

 

The need for her safety and happiness became his sole focus. She was what drove him as he made his way through the darkened cramped passage, crawling, searching for the vent that would lead him closer to her.

 

“It should be the next vent on the left, Oliver. The vent should lead you to the bathroom that sits inside the cafeteria,” spoke Digg.

 

“Oliver, please be careful,” pleaded Thea, “there are two guards near the bathroom’s exit.”

 

Oliver’s dropped, feet first, into the bathroom, trying to make as little sound as possible.  

 

“I’m in the bathroom,” whispered Oliver as he moved towards the exit.

 

Oliver closed his eyes, inhaled a deep breath, breathing in what very well might be his last breath as he reached for the door handle.

 

Oliver opened his eyes and exhaled.

 

He tugged at the handle, careful to make as little sound as possible as he slipped through the opening.

 

“To your left, Oliver,” spoke Diggle, alerting Oliver to one of the guards’ positions.

 

Oliver dropped him quickly and without notice.

 

“Ten feet, at your six o’clock,” Diggle alerted.

 

Oliver took the other guard just as easily and efficiently as the one before.

 

While it was nearly noon outside, the cafeteria was bathed only in a soft light. All the lights were off. The large glass wall that led the atrium was shrouded by the darkening mesh curtain that had been extended when the hostages were first being led in.

 

In the hour they had taken to plan Oliver’s breach, they had located all the visible bombs that Damian and his team had planted around the QC cafeteria. The majority were attached to the cafeteria’s three support columns. Another larger one was placed on the cafeteria’s main entrance doors. Each bombers vest contained at least 3lbs of C4, enough to take out the bomber and anyone in his vicinity. Just the amount of visible C4 could easily bring down the cafeteria, trapping and most likely killing all of its occupants.

 

The fear that struck Oliver after realizing the magnitude of the possible destruction brought back memories of the Undertaking and of Tommy’s death. The possibility of losing Felicity and his mother nearly froze him during that hour of planning. He could not fathom even the mere thought of losing the two of them.

 

Oliver was determined that this time there would be a different outcome. This time he would not, could not, lose the people he loved the most to a madman bent on vengeance. Damian had to be stopped, whatever the cost.

 

Oliver stayed in the shadows, moving in the familiarity of the darkness, taking out all obstacles that came into his path. Luckily, the number of guards left was manageable, at least for him.

 

With the guidance of Diggle, Thea and Roy, Oliver was able to disarm two of the bombs attached to the support columns before all hell broke loose.

 

The remaining guards, that had a moment ago stood sentry, began advancing on Oliver’s position.

 

Oliver fired his arrows, taking out most of the remaining guards before engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the remaining few.

 

“Well, well, well. Starling City’s Arrow has arrived,” crowed Damian gleefully, “to what do I owe the pleasure, Arrow?”

 

“Release the hostages,” bellowed Oliver, the voice modulator making his voice even more menacing, as he drew an arrow and aimed it at Damian.

 

Damian’s laughed and began moving towards Oliver.  

 

“Release the hostages,” crowed Damian. “Do you really think that just because you bellow an order that I will listen. I AM DONE LISTENING! I AM DONE FOLLOWING ORDERS,” roared Damian.

 

His screams echoed through the room.

 

“Release the hostages,” Oliver ordered again.

 

Slowly, the two warring sides, Oliver and Damian, began circling each other, like animals engaged in a battle to the death.

 

“What no small talk, Arrow? Don’t want to discuss the weather? Politics? The state of the economy? FINE! But you won’t kill me, Arrow. The moment my heart stops the dead man’s switch will activate and kill everyone in this room, you included. So put the goddamn arrow down. Or I’ll start taking out more of these lovely hostages, starting with the lovely Mrs. Queen.”

 

Oliver’s blood boiled. His fingers itched to put an arrow into Damian. But he knew better, throwing the arrow to the ground.

 

“Well, well, it looks like Starling City’s hooded vigilante can listen,” taunted Damian.

 

“You wanted to talk! Talk,” Oliver shouted, the ferocity in his voice was clear, as he attempted to keep his annoyance at bay.

 

**…**

 

The sight of Oliver both calmed and horrified Felicity at the same time. She knew that he would do everything he could to save them all but she couldn’t fathom him walking into the lion’s den like he just did.

 

Her heart began to pound. Her ears deafened by the sound of her blood rushing. Her breathing hitched. Her body ached in pain.

 

While everyone in the room saw the Arrow, a man that had tried to clean up their city, Felicity saw the man who was her partner, her friend. The man that had captured her heart and shown her a life she could have never imagined. The man that had lost so much, been hurt so much, who carried the burden of the city on his shoulders every night, face another man who had lost just as much. That man was unpredictable and had the ability to kill everyone in the room, Oliver included. She couldn’t bear to lose him, not like this, never like this.

 

She ached to scream his name and tell him to run. But she knew better. Oliver never ran away when it truly mattered, a trait that she had greatly admired and that had greatly frustrated her. He would stand his ground and see this to the end. She prayed that he would not do something stupid. She prayed that they would all make it out of here alive. She prayed that she could hold him in her arms once again and tell him never to do something so stupid ever again.

 

**…**

 

Oliver’s face and body betrayed none of the emotions that were warring beneath his exterior. For that he was thankful. He had yet to lay his eyes on his mother. He had yet to lay his eyes on Felicity, knowing that if he did any semblance of control he had would vanquish. He would run to her, shield her, and do everything in his power to save her. He could not let that happen. He could not look at her. Not yet.

 

The original plan had failed.

 

Oliver was supposed to defuse the four large bombs, the ones on the support columns and the main doors of the cafeteria, before engaging Damian.

 

Oliver needed a new plan.

 

He had to defuse the bomb on the main doors so SCPD could get into the cafeteria. While the team had been planning to get into the cafeteria and take down Damian, the SCPD had been planning to get into the building. Three teams of the SCPD bomb squad were in the midst of disarming the bombs that blocked the main entrance into SCPD as he quarrelled with Damian. They were to await his signal to storm the cafeteria and help rescue the hostages.

 

He had to move quickly. He needed to defuse the bomb on the main entrance door so SCPD could in. He needed a distraction. And he knew just the way to do it.

 

“You say you want to talk, let’s talk. You said you were tired of listening, tired of taking orders from others. Did you order your wife in here with you, Holt? Did you know that you would be ordering her to her death,” voiced Oliver, tinged ever so slightly with malice, knowing that his words were a low-blow, and a dangerous one at that. He was purposely antagonizing Damian, blaming him for the death of this wife. An attack that he knew would draw Damian in, giving him a possible chance of diffusing the bomb on the main doors.    

 

“YOU! YOU SHUT UP! You DO NOT get to talk about her. YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!”

 

“I know a lot more than you think, Holt. I know that you met your wife while she was an undergrad at MIT. That you feel in love quickly, most likely at first sight, and married in a matter of months. I know you loved her. You loved her more than anything in the world. You would’ve done anything, given her everything in the world, just to see her smile.”

 

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP,” screamed Damian, hands on his ears, attempting to block out Oliver’s voice. Tears once again spilling from his eyes, as his entire body shook. He aimed his gun at Oliver and fired.

 

The bullet completely missed Oliver, going wide by only a foot.  

 

Oliver knew he could not stop now. He would have a clear shot at disarming the bomb on the door with one of the EMP devices attached to one of his arrows, he just needed Damian move just a few feet more.

 

“Losing someone that you love, that you love with you whole heart and every fibre of your being, hurts. It burns every part of your being. You feel like you can’t breathe. Like nothing will ever be right in the world again. Like every piece of you, all the pieces that matter, have been stolen from you. You feel like the darkness has won. And all the good that was inside you is gone. You feel so cold. Like nothing will ever be able to warm you ever again. You feel like nothing else matters. And all you want to do is join them.”

 

Damian snorted, but a look of disbelief and amazement began to grace his face.

 

“What do you know about love, Arrow? What does Starling City’s hooded vigilante know about love,” Damian jeered.

 

“I know what it is like to love someone like that. That person is your other half. The only person that makes you feel whole, inside and out, that understands you better than anyone else on earth ever could. You share all your dreams and all your fears with them. You couldn’t imagine living a life, a future, without that person by your side. You depend on that person like you’ve never depended on anyone else before or after. That person becomes the centre of your universe, whether you like it or not, because they’ve broken down all your defenses, all your walls, and shown you what true love really is. They make you smile, a real smile, when no one else could. You would die for that person, kill for them, and do everything you could to keep that person happy and safe. Nothing else matters to you but that one person because they are your reason for living.”

 

Oliver could see that Damian had become visibly shaken by his words. In truth, he had become shaken by his own words. He had yet to express these words verbally to her, but he hoped she understood. Everything he had just spoken of, everything he had just expressed was about her, because of her. Felicity had broken down all his defenses, raised his heart and soul from the coffin he had vanquished them to, and made him face the world for what it truly was, not just the one he wanted to see. Whether he liked it or not, she had become a beacon for all that was good and right in the world. And he would do whatever it took to keep that beacon shining.

 

Damian stood completely silent, completely still, thinking.  

 

“She’s in here isn’t she,” spoke Damian, his voice quiet but strong, “the person you’re describing. The person the Arrow loves most is in this room. It’s why you’re here isn’t it? To rescue her. To save her. You couldn’t bear to lose her. So you broke through all my defenses to get in here, to save her. I’m actually impressed that you got in here without setting the place ablaze. Tell me who she is and I’ll let her go. I’ll let you walk out of here with her, unharmed.”

 

Parts of Oliver screamed for him to accept Damian’s offer, to grab Felicity and leave. To hold her in his arms and know that beyond a doubt that she was safe. But he couldn’t, no matter how hard it was. She believed him to be a hero. And heroes saved not only the ones they loved, but everyone else as well.

 

“I won’t do that,” replied Oliver.

 

“Didn’t you just say that you would do everything, anything, to keep her safe? You won’t save her,” the anger bubbled up in Damian’s voice.

 

“She wouldn’t want me to do that. She would want me to save everyone in this room. Not just her. She would sacrifice her own life to protect everyone’s in here. That’s just her nature. She would never forgive me if I accepted your offer,” said Oliver, his voice breaking ever so slightly, but masked by the voice modulator.  

 

Damian’s eyes narrowed, fire burning bright within them.

 

He turned towards the area where Felicity and Moira were being kept. A smile began gracing his face, like he was a cat that just caught the canary.

 

This was Oliver’s chance. He fired his arrow at the main entrance. His arrow hit the centre of the bomb’s console, disarming it on contact.

 

“Now,” Oliver bellowed through the comms, rushing towards Damian while he had his back turned to him. Taking him down and knocking him unconscious.  

 

The rush of SCPD officers that came through the door astonished everyone that was in the room. They began hustling the hostages through the main cafeteria doors as quick as they could. The SCPD bomb squads began disarming the suicide bombers vest before arresting them and hauling them out as well.

 

Oliver heard Diggle’s voice as he grabbed Felicity and Moira, before hustling the two of them through the room towards the main cafeteria doors with the rest of the hostages.

 

Oliver felt he could finally breathe, knowing that his mother and Felicity were both safe.

 

The room had been almost cleared as Damian began to wake. His hands secured behind his back. While Detective Lance and the rest of the SCPD had wanted to question Damian, Oliver, or the Arrow had been adamant that he would be the one to question the man that was partially behind the takeover the not only shut down QC but Starling City as well.

 

“Shut down the dead man switch,” Oliver bellowed, standing a foot away from Damian who was sat spooled on the ground.

 

“Why would I do that,” spat Damian.

 

“You have a choice, Holt. Shut it down and walk out of here unharmed.”

 

“Unharmed? I have lost everything! I’ve lost the one thing that has ever mattered to me! I lost her,” the defeat so clear in Damian’s voice, tears once again adorning his face.

 

“You didn’t choose her,” spoke Damian, his voice accusatory, “you didn’t choose the woman you love most in the world. She could have died in here! She could have died because you choose everyone one else over her.”

 

“I was never going to let that happen,” retorted Oliver, “I was never going to let you kill her.”  

 

“I guess we both deserve the same resolution then,” said Damian, the glee evident in his voice.  

 

Oliver watched as Damian moved the fingers on the left hand pressing down on a large black button in the centre of his palm, triggering the dead man’s switch.

 

Oliver ran.

 

**…**

-Present-

 

Felicity fought off the paramedics that were trying to assess her injuries.

 

“Digg, we need to get in there,” pleaded Felicity, “he’s still in there with CKP1!”

 

Felicity tried to move away from the ambulance and towards QC before Diggle grabbed her. Moments later, a large boom was heard. Glass shattered and littered the ground. The floor underneath their feet shook, as did the QC building. Black smoke streamed from the area near where the cafeteria was. The alarms on the cars around the building began to blare. Some people had been knocked off their feet.  Most of those close to the building could only hear ringing in their ears.

 

“NOOOO,” screamed Felicity. The scream ripped through Felicity’s mouth before she could rationalize it.

 

Tears began flooding from Felicity’s eyes. All the pain that she had felt quickly vanished; she loosened herself from Diggle’s arms and ran towards QC.

 

Diggle’s arms enveloped her once again, stilling her movements.

 

“We have to get in there, Digg,” shouted Felicity, “he’s still in there! He’s still in there! We have to save him, Digg! He could be trapped under the rubble or debris, hurt or worse,” cried Felicity; her voice was filled with so much anguish, as she continued to struggle against Diggle’s grip.

 

“Felicity! Stop! Stop! STOP!”

 

“He’s probably hurt, Digg, and trapped. We need to get to him,” sobbed Felicity, as she continued to kick and attempt to herself free from Digg’s hold.

 

She couldn’t stop. She needed to get to him. She had to fight. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had to move. She had to see him. She had to see his face. She was not ready to let him go. Not now. Not ever. She needed him more than she could ever express. As much as he needed her, she needed him. He was her centre. She loved him, more than anyone else she had ever known. He had proven to her that she would always be his choice. That people didn’t always leave and run away. He was the one person who had shown her that life was filled with different choices that one could make and paths to be taken. He was her choice. He would always be her choice.

 

She would not let their story end in the building, the building that had started it all. Not like this. Never like this.

 

Before Felicity could comprehend what was going on, she saw Roy streak past her, dressed in his red leather suit racing towards the underground parking structure.

 

Felicity felt Diggle’s arms loosen, before making her break and running after Roy, Diggle right behind her.

 

She began screaming his name as they entered the underground parking structure.

 

“OLIVER! OLIVER! OLIVER!”

 

The three of them raced towards the same entrance that Oliver had gone in. Smoke billowed out of the entrance.

 

Roy ran in first knowing the route that Oliver had taken. Diggle and Felicity followed.

 

The darkness and the smoke were suffocating as they moved deeper within the confines of the narrow walkway. The small flashlight that Roy held did little to help the situation.

 

As they neared the vent that Oliver had gone in, they saw him. He lay face down on the cold floor.

 

Felicity pushed ahead of Roy and Diggle and ran towards him.

 

“Oliver! Oliver! Stay with me! Please stay with me,” howled Felicity as she searched for his pulse.

 

“Please, Oliver! Please. Don’t let this be our resolution. Please,” begged Felicity as she clung to him, like the lifeline that he was to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I love hearing what you guys have to say, good or bad, so comment away!


	11. All of Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter. It's taken a long time to get here, much longer than I had thought when I began writing this story, especially after this year's Comic-con (holy shit, my brain and my heart nearly overloaded. Olicity is endgame and it is AWESOME!). But here it is. 
> 
> I'm so thankful for all the kudos, the comments, the subscriptions and bookmarks. You have all been so utterly amazing and kind and I cannot thank you all enough. Whether you have been here from the beginning or you've just started reading the fic, thank you from the bottom of my heart. 
> 
> The title of this chapter comes from John Legend's utterly beautiful and romantic song "All of Me". 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I had fun writing it. :)

* * *

 

 **Epilogue**  

 

-3 Months Later-

 

Felicity had never felt calmer or more at peace than she was at that very moment. Her mind was clear, clearer than it had been in months, as she sat on the deck, feet grazing the bluest water she had ever seen, looking out at the horizon. 

 

The storm had cleared.

 

The darkness abated.

 

The swell of the waves died down.

 

The sun had broken through the clouds.

 

Felicity thought it was metaphoric, a reflection of the journey she had taken since Oliver stepped into her office that faithful day and fed her his incredibly unbelievable lie about that bullet hole-ridden laptop. For every step they had taken, every twist, every turn, all the darkness that engulfed them, and the obstacles they had faced, they weathered through, together, better and stronger than before. Every step they had taken, every choice they had made, together and individually, had led them to each other. They made each other better, stronger, and more resilient than before. And for that she was grateful.  She would be forever thankful for the journey that they had shared together.

 

She never thought that her life, her choices, would lead her to this point, to this moment. But here she was, watching the world continue to spin while she remained still, frozen in the moment. Until she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist and a kiss placed upon her shoulder.

 

“What are you thinking,” asked Oliver quietly.

 

“That all this feels like a dream,” answered Felicity, her voice equally as quiet as she continued to stare at the horizon.

 

“It’s not,” Oliver replied, his voice so steady and assuring.

 

Oliver had insisted that they go on a vacation and escape the madness that had become their lives, for a moment at least. It was a vacation where they could be together, just Oliver and Felicity, no masks, no responsibilities, no cameras and paparazzi, just the two of them together, basking in their love for one another.

 

It was a vacation that Thea had vehemently insisted on, and that the entire team and Moira had whole-heartedly agreed to and pushed for.

 

It had been three months that had passed since Isabel’s ill-fated attempt to takeover Queen Consolidated. Three months since the Queens had finally taken back what was rightfully theirs. Three months since Starling City recognized the heroism and the humanity of the Arrow. Three months to heal from the trauma, both physical and psychological, that they had all suffered. Three months since the two of them realized that their friendship, their partnership, was so much more, so much deeper, than they could have ever imagined.

 

They had barely left each other’s side in the three months since the takeover had ended.

 

In the past three months, their relationship had endured and strengthened, becoming near unbreakable, as they helped each other recover from the trauma that had both faced in those terrifying 24 hours. While the trauma of those 24 hours may never fully leave them, they gave each other the strength, the light, the love and understanding, to move on and heal from the ordeal. They gave each other the ability to exorcise some of their demons, reveal their hidden truths, and admit their darkest fears to one another. They had faced a daunting crucible together in those three months and came through better because of it.

 

“This isn’t a dream. This is us,” Oliver spoke, as he drew Felicity closer to him in their embrace, “This. Us. It is everything worth fighting for. It’s everything I never thought I was going to fight for when I came home from the island. It’s nothing I could have dreamed of. Us, you, it’s nothing I thought I would ever deserve after everything that I had done. But I’m glad, so glad that I walked into your office that day and asked for your help. I’m so grateful that you agreed to help me, help guide me, help save me when no one else could. This isn’t a dream, Felicity. This is our life and I’m so happy that you decided to share yours with me.”

 

“I love you, Felicity.”

 

“I love you, too. All of you, Oliver.”

 

“Really? All of me, Ms. Smoak,” asked Oliver, his voice full of joy and mischief, something that Felicity had become accustomed to in the last three months. “Pray tell what parts of me you like most? And please, try to be as explicit as possible.” Placing another kiss on her shoulder, a kiss that sparked shivers across her body.

 

Felicity laughed and lightly smacked Oliver’s arm before answering him  

 

“Well, you’re extremely handsome. You’ve got an incredible body. You’ve got a great ass,” a statement that caused Oliver to laugh and rest his head on Felicity’s shoulder. “You’re kind of a billionaire. You’re the city’s hero. Your strength and your smarts, even though you got a D in 10th grade algebra. Your ability to always put others first, no matter the situation. Your smile, the one that only I get to see, the one that lights up your entire face and makes my heart beat faster. And your heart, that’s the part I think I love most,” spoke Felicity before turning around and facing Oliver.

 

“I love every part of you, Oliver. I love all the parts that have been shrouded in shadows. I love all the parts that still have light within them. I love all the parts of you that have been broken and all that parts that have healed. I love all of you, Oliver.”

 

Felicity could feel the love, the jumble of emotions, and the tears that were bubbling underneath the surface, as she looked upon the face of the man that she loved with every fibre of her being. She saw all of him in that moment, all the scars, all the fears, all the triumphs and failures. But also all the care, happiness and love despite all the darkness that had been inflicted upon him. She saw everything that made him the man today. And she loved all of it. She knew now, more than ever, that she could never imagine her life without this man by her side. This man, who willingly opened up his heart to her despite of all his fears, and who made her face her fears in the process. This man, who inspired her, challenged her, frustrated her and loved her beyond all comprehension. She loved this man, a man who had slowly, but surely taken over her heart, her heart which she would have gladly and willingly given him.

 

“Quid pro quo, Mr. Queen, what do you love about me,” asked Felicity, her lips forming a small smile as she stared lovingly at the man in front of her.

 

**…**

Oliver didn’t think that his heart could beat as rapidly and wildly as it was at that very moment, staring into the eyes of the woman who had captured his heart with a tilt of her head and a knowing look, asking him all the things he loved about her.

 

He never really had a way with words, even prior to the island. He had the cash, the status, the looks and the patented Ollie Queen smile that worked on pretty much every woman that he met. He never really had to use words, which in hindsight might have been an indication of the depth of the relationships he was having with those women. Felicity was different though, he knew that the moment he met her. She saw through all the flash, all the bravado, all the walls that he had erected. She broke through all his defenses, stripped him bare of all his armor. She was the one person that never ceased to amaze him.  Her belief, love, and trust him in amazed him every single day. Some days he didn’t feel worthy of such belief, love or trust. Today was not one of those days.

 

The fear of losing her would never truly be abated. But he couldn’t imagine having a life without her in it. The possibility of opening up and letting someone in had always terrified him. The idea that someone had so much power, so much influence and control over another person scared him shitless. But he knew now, better than he had ever before, that keeping his heart and his soul locked up would do him no good. Keeping himself separate from the world would only darken whatever light was left within him. It would turn him cold, dark, impenetrable and irredeemable. He only came to that realization after realizing that she had already captured his heart and soul without him even noticing.  

 

He knew now, more than ever, that he could not live a life, any life, without her in it. He needed her. More than he needed anything else on this earth. He would give everything he had, every piece of him, and pay any price to keep her safe and happy. She was the light and he was lucky enough to be her shadow. She sparked something within him. Something he thought was long buried, dead, and drew it out. She made him want to be a better man, not only for her, but for the city as well. He was better for having her in his life. He didn’t know why, or how, or what he had done to have this remarkable woman in his life. All he knew was that he would do everything in his power to ensure that he kept on deserving her every single day for the rest of his life.

 

Felicity was the only woman for him, for now and forever.

 

Now he just had to verbalize that to her without his heart escaping from his chest.

 

Oliver smiled at her, the smile that was reserved only for her.

 

“You are incredibly remarkable, Ms. Smoak,” said Oliver, as he tugged her even closer into his body, keeping his eyes on hers the entire time. “You make me smile, more than I have ever smiled in my entire life. You make me happier than I have ever been or ever thought I could be. I love your ability to call me on my bullshit when I need it. I love that you challenge me when no one else can. I love that your voice is the only voice I need to hear when I wake up in the morning and when I go to sleep at night. That your voice is the one I hear when I’m out there saving our city. I love that beautiful brain of yours, which has saved me and our city so many times. I love that I can always rely on you to tell me the truth, even when it hurts. I love that you babble constantly because it fills my heart with so much joy. I love that you have a heart, and that is so bright and so true, that it led me out of the darkness. I love that you are my still point in all of the chaos. I love that you look as just as beautiful as you do when you wake in the morning with nothing on, as you do when you are dressed to the nines. I love your strength because it allows you to love a man as broken and damaged and stubborn as me. I love that you are my home, that you are my heart and the other half of my soul. I love every part, every piece of you. All of me, loves all of you. I love you, Felicity.”

 

Oliver carefully wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes. Eyes filled with so much love and happiness aimed solely at him that it stopped his heart and left him breathless.  

 

The kiss that followed obliterated every kiss that he had ever had before. This kiss, a kiss imbued with so much love and trust and belief than he had ever felt before, literally and figuratively stole his breath away.

 

The darkness was gone.

 

The storm had cleared.

 

The sky was blue.

 

The sun was shining.  

 

The waves had settled down.

 

And the world kept on spinning.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a sucker for happy endings, so I couldn't not imagine a happy ending for Oliver and Felicity. 
> 
> As always, I love hearing what you have to say, good or bad, so comment away. 
> 
> If you liked my writing, you can check out my other Olicity stories that I am writing at the moment. Just click on my username and it'll take you there. 
> 
> Again, thank you for reading this story from the bottom of my heart! :)


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